Letter: College Republicans being punished for free speech
Posted: 4/25/07
04/25/07 - To the Cigar,
As a college professor and a believer of First Amendment rights, I write to express my dismay over the actions of your Student Senate. The First Amendment was specifically designed to protect speech about political issues - the exact kind of speech the College Republicans group is now being punished for.
I have repeatedly heard the liberal view on this issue advocated at other universities - often to the exclusion of opposing viewpoints. Race-based scholarships that favor blacks and women are praised, while those supporting advancement based upon the content of a person's character are called "racist" or worse.
While I may not agree with this view, I strongly feel that liberals have a right to advocate this position. But when conservatives point out that such scholarships are, in their very nature, discriminatory because they make discriminations based upon race and gender, they also have a right to advocate their view.
What I feel individuals controlling the liberal power establishment (senate in this case) should not have a right to do is to punish or censor those who they disagree with. Ask yourself, if the ad in question had supported race and sex based scholarships, would student senate attempt to punish the authors? If not, how is this not good old-fashioned censorship of a politically unpopular view?
Where are the folks who repeatedly repeat words like "tolerance," "freedom" and "diversity" on just about any other position they advocate? Where is the tolerance for the freedom to express a diverse view on this issue? (One should also ask themselves where are the self proclaimed "free speech advocates" who come out when the issue is pornography.)
I believe that everyone should have a right to advocate their position on race- and sex-based scholarships without fear of reprisal. To paraphrase a popular TV show of the 70s, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it."
As a believer in academic freedom and First Amendment rights, when I think about this I hang my head in dismay. The URI Student Senate should hang its in shame.
Michael Sheliga
Assistant Professor
Department of Technology
Eastern Kentucky University
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