SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the when-the-First-Amendment-isn't-clear-enough dept.
On college campuses, outrage over provocative speakers sometimes turns violent.
It's becoming a pattern on campuses around the country. A speaker is invited, often by a conservative student group. Other students oppose the speaker, and maybe they protest. If the speech happens, the speaker is heckled. Sometimes there's violence.
In other cases — as with conservative commentator Ann Coulter at the University of California, Berkeley last week — the event is called off.
Now, a handful of states, including Illinois, Tennessee, Colorado and Arizona, have passed or introduced legislation designed to prevent these incidents from happening. The bills differ from state to state, but they're generally based on a model written by the Goldwater Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Arizona.
The model bill would require public universities to remain neutral on political issues, prevent them from disinviting speakers, and impose penalties for students and others who interfere with these speakers.
The author of the model bill argues that the neutrality stipulation is necessary for public institutions funded by tax dollars, "who shouldn't be forced to subsidize speech that they disagree with." In response to the legislation, a Democratic North Carolina legislator criticized the bill as an unnecessary "regulation of a constitutional right." The story also mentions that "Critics say this kind of legislation could hinder a university's ability to regulate hate speech on campus," but the bill author responds that hate speech is "not well-defined in the law."
Although the proposed legislation varies by state, the model bill linked above recommends a number of initiatives, from clear campus policies on protecting free speech to severe disciplinary actions for students who interfere with that right. Perhaps the strongest section of the model bill would require that "Any student who has twice been found responsible for infringing the expressive rights of others will be suspended for a minimum of one year, or expelled" (Section 1.9).
In other free speech news, USA Today reports that the FCC is launching an investigation into an "obscene" joke by Stephen Colbert concerning Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which caused a Twitter firestorm and led to a trending #FireColbert hashtag. While the joke was sexually explicit, the offensive word was bleeped in broadcast. CNN has argued that the FCC is merely doing its job in investigating "a number" of complaints, but Slate notes the high legal threshold that would be necessary for a fine in this case, given the late hour of the broadcast and the three-pronged test for obscenity.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:27PM (6 children)
Pro tip: using the pejorative "leftist" means your argument will get ignored. The adults in the room will just move right on by after seeing that you're unable to string a sentence together without name-calling.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:39PM (3 children)
Spoken like a true leftist.
Maybe you can cry to mommy, or your professors, or make a real difference -- a change.org petition to hack into the SN database and remove all instances of the word "leftist" so that your widdwle feewings won't be hurt.
And if all that doesn't work out, you can gather up a bunch of Soros-funded prescription-drug-and-iPhone-lobotomized tantrumites and go burn down Linode's data centers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @10:13PM (2 children)
Eth, you're out of your league, man. Adults are talking here. Talking about extreme juvenile behavior on the part of Republican legislators, but still, adults talking. Now that you have had your outburst, please just go back to your lego blocks, so the adults can have an actual discussion.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday May 08 2017, @02:35AM
Eth isn't allowed Lego since that time he swallowed an entire miniature set of them and started shitting Lego-man heads. It's Duplo only now. No Tinkertoys either; apparently he got "ideas" about where some of the longer pieces go...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @02:39AM
He doesn't play with Legos, they are an ideological tool of socialist Denmark!
This is more to his liking: Little White Dragon toys [smosh.com]
Now you know why he drinks ethanol, he needs it to pose like a real fire breathing dragon but it is just a cheap trick from a damaged individual.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday May 08 2017, @03:07PM
How is "leftist" a pejorative? It literally means "one who identifies with the left." Or are we not allowed to use "left" and "right" now?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday May 08 2017, @03:41PM
Strongly Disagree.
That is not true when one becomes president. People will have to pay attention to the president. Even if he is illiterate and unable to form complete sentences without name calling. The incomprehensible sentences with infantile name calling will be recorded as part of history. After all this is the product of his education at a prestigious school for rich people. The words should be required to be part of the presidential library.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.