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Yes, You Have Free Speech! (Except on 99.9985% of This Campus.)
…And except if your expression “disturbs the peace and/or comfort of person(s).” And for only about 18 hours during the week. Otherwise … free speech! So it is at one college.
Alliance Defending Freedom sued Georgia Gwinnett College Monday on behalf of Chike Uzuegbunam, a student who sought to politely share his faith on campus. Despite jumping through several unconstitutional hoops in order to get permission to speak, Chike was nonetheless accused of “disorderly conduct.”
In July, college officials stopped Uzuegbunam from talking with fellow students about Christianity and handing out religious literature in a plaza outside the college library. After Uzuegbunam complied, campus officials informed him that GGC policies also prohibited him from speaking privately with students about his faith unless he provides three days advance notice and speaks only in one of the two small speech zones during the two to four hours a day they are open during the week.
In August, Uzuegbunam followed these restrictions and spoke and distributed literature peacefully at a small patio area that is one of the speech zones. After 20 minutes, campus police arrived and told him to stop sharing his faith because of “some calls from people complaining.”
ADF has filed dozens of these cases over the years and thankfully has a perfect record of victory. Not sure why these schools still haven’t gotten the message that, yes, in fact, the First Amendment applies to them.
Published in Law
As Obama brushes off questions about the Lefts’ complete surrender to PC with the eye-rolling assertion that the Right, too, gets their undies in a bunch and claim victim status when it’s their issue being questioned.
So ,no, there is no political correctness, just one “side” being insensitive to the other “side’s” most cherished values.
I cannot insert a big enough eye-roll. I thought I would never want a public figure to JUST GO AWAY as much as I did the Clintons, but Obama’s superciliousness, sanctimony, moral preening, and an apprehension of no subject as more important than his own glorious self has done the impossible.
But I digress. I have to say, I was most impressed with the young man who accepted every restriction no matter how ludicrous, and adjusted his endeavor to fit their rules. That was a mighty witness for his beliefs.
How do their bankrolls compare to yours? If the penalties for curbing speech and other denials of liberty are minor, perhaps they figure they can afford to lose a particular lawsuit before instituting some new nonsense. For the cost of every lawsuit, they can appeal to another leftist donor.
Perhaps universities are free to experiment with gross violations because, like a US President, they know the worst that can happen to them is that their violations will be undone… eventually.
Hear-hear! Most excellent turn of phrase.
It’s OK, because the only policy Obama was able to enact was ObamaCare, and now he’s out of office. So don’t worry. All is well.
And if the main thing is to give them peace and comfort, shouldn’t we put them in a hospice and give them morphine?
This college is in the State House District I represent. I had no idea this even happened, no local media coverage. I’ve emailed them to find out what’s going on and how we can get rid of the silly “free speech zone” and let students engage in the free exchange of ideas on the entire campus.
WSB Radio mentioned it this morning…
That is a great start. Please keep us posted on this from your side of things.
That could be in rare instances, but overall, I think it is either SJW ignorance (redundant, yes) or hostility mixed with the smug assumption that they won’t get caught. Along with the many cases ADF has filed and won, there are many more schools that have changed policies on the basis of informational letters.
Some good coverage in the AJC.
Thanks for supporting Chike and his freedom of speech, Buzz!
I’m a little uncomfortable with the description of this situation. It’s not clear to me how persistent the young man was in “politely” sharing his faith. As a Jew in college, I remember one time a young man was trying to tell me about Christ, and he was polite, but he was also persistent. (I happened to be sitting at a table in a college café.) I was finally forced (I felt) to be rude to tell him that I wasn’t interested. He persisted a bit more and then finally left. If the young man you described didn’t persist, I support his freedom of expression; otherwise, I’m not sure.
It sounds like you handled the situation well. Doesn’t appear you needed an arm of the government (assuming it was a public university) to step and violate the Constitution to settle it. :)
Point well taken, Greg.