Brain Lemon

Less than a month later, I'm already regretting giving in to the constant phone calls and donating a small amount of money to Bucknell University, my alma mater.  For years I have refused to give on the basis that the university does not respect free speech.  During my time there I felt the deep and constant chilling effect, the fear for expressing ideas divergent from college PC, such as opposition to gay marriage or racial quotas.  Looks like, instead of improving, Bucknell is at it again.

Affirmative action bake sales have gone on for years, at both high school and college levels.  The idea is far from original but the purpose is clear – to show the inherent unfairness of treating people differently just because of their color.  Just like at the bake sale, our universities and colleges are giving certain groups extra points, often based on nothing more than their skin color.  These programs have done much damage to the basic fairness and meritocracy our country is founded on.

The real issue here, though, is of course the university's refusal to tolerate any speech that is overly "troublesome" or against PC norms.  Of course, this usually only swings one way, as liberal speech is given far much more lenience, and even the most moderate and decent conservative or traditional speech attacked constantly.

The part of this article that chilled me the most was this one:

"Many students felt this was an inappropriate use of free speech."

Excuse me?  An "inappropriate" use of free speech?  The very purpose of free speech is to permit and protect things that may be very "inappropriate."  If you restrict speech to being appropriate, it is entirely up to whoever is in control to determine that standard.  Anyone can make the determination that speech they don't like is inappropriate.  The only standard free speech should have is whether it directly endangers people, or incites violence, or some such thing (the classic "not yelling fire in a crowded theater" rule).  Any other standard means it is no longer FREE.

I worry that far too many of today's students think this way about free speech.  It certainly is the message sent by universities that claim to support diversity and tolerance, then go ahead and bully conservatives for trying to make an entirely valid point in a harmless fashion.