Evolution of College Protests in The USA Over the Years
Via Robert Gehl:
Free speech? Meh.
This week, the University of Chicago Student Government decided that freedom of speech and freedom of expression just wasn’t their thing.
Instead, they’d rather side with groups who seek to minimize dissent, ban speakers and silence voices – all in the name of “tolerance.”
The resolution – “reaffirming the University’s commitment to free expression” – called on school administrators to condemn any student who “obstructs or disrupts” free speech, including threats of violence.
It seemed rather mundane for the University of Chicago, which was recently hailed by a campus free-speech group for protecting the First Amendment.
But Cosmo Albrecht didn’t see things that way. The Class of 2018 representative didn’t want to rush to embrace free speech. (I mean, what is this? A free country?)
We shouldn’t condemn violence and demonstrations against people too quickly.
“I don’t think we should use this idea of elected officials being … banned from speaking as evidence that free speech is under attack,” he added, clearly not grasping the definition of “free speech.”
Other student senators got into the discussion and they quickly confused the idea of “banning speech” with “protesting someone else’s speech.” From The Chicago Maroon:
In debating the resolution, several General Assembly members referenced the event with Anita Alvarez, who has been widely criticized for her office’s role in delaying the release of a video of a Chicago Police Department officer shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
“I do think that at a university, a variety of viewpoints are supposed to be put in front of us,” said Class of 2018 CC Representative Calvin Cottrell. “I was going to show up [to the Alvarez event] and ask very tough questions about what had happened in her office and I think many people were denied the opportunity to ask those questions.”
SG President Tyler Kissinger explained that while he does not usually speak on these issues, he urged General Assembly members to vote against the resolution. “As a public official it is my obligation not to run out of the room. I was at the Anita Alvarez event, an event with someone whose office has consistently refused to meet with black and Latino communities that her office has over-policed and I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “I think it is well within the rights of people to protest events particularly for public officials…and I urge a no vote.”
Sent from my iPhone
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