Snowflake Roundup: Free Speech Isn’t Just Suppressed at Berkeley

ashley.rae | April 27, 2017
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While the University of California, Berkeley is in the news lately with its suppression of Ann Coulter’s speech and, previously, Milo Yiannopoulos’ talk, Berkeley is not the only school that has infringed on students’ freedom of speech and thought.

Here are some recent news stories about universities censoring views they don’t agree with:

1. On March 2, American Enterprise Institute scholar Charles Murray was scheduled to speak at Middlebury College. The speech was met with violent student protests that even led to an openly liberal professor being placed in a neck brace. On April 20, Bert Johnson, the chair of the political science department at Middlebury, apologized--to the protesters--for the “real pain” they felt by having Murray on campus. As a result of the protest, the school will now be starting a bureaucratic committee to approve all speakers.

2. On March 8, American University issued a safety warning to students after an anti-feminist flier appeared on campus. The flier, which protested International Women’s Day, was investigated by American University police as a hate crime.

3. On March 28, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported on a lawsuit by a student, identified only as “John Doe,” against the University of Montana for suspending him because of his allegedly anti-transgender views. According to the lawsuit, John Doe told his professor in private that he did not agree with transgenderism, and the professor told a transgender student in class that John Doe was a “danger” to her safety.

4. On April 5, the University of Oklahoma’s student publication publicized a school workshop for members of the Greek community to “unlearn” their inherent racism, sexism, and classism. While the event was open to all students and not mandatory, the school OU Student Affairs office, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and the Center for Social Justice sponsored the event to reprogram students’ minds.

5. On April 21, it was reported that Hood College has threatened to impose sanctions against the College Republicans for their display on a campus bulletin board. The display in question was red, white, and blue and included references to conservative ideas. The “offensive” display included the notion that transgender people are suffering from a mental illness.

These cases are often overlooked, as MSNBC host Chris Hayes has argued conservatives need to pick on Berkeley to fuel their “grievance and persecution.” Chris, it's not just Berkeley.

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