Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Legislation That Would Abolish Campus Free Speech Zones
“Public colleges and universities are meant to be free and open to the exchange of ideas”
This act has actually been passed and is now headed to the governor’s desk. Most Democrats oppose it, naturally.
The College Fix reports:
Ohio legislature passes law abolishing campus free-speech zones
Ohio took a step this week toward expanding First Amendment protections on campus by passing the Forming Open and Robust University Minds Act on Wednesday.
The legislation abolishes free-speech zones on public campuses and eliminates content-based security fees charged for speakers, according to an analysis of the bill.
The legislation now heads to Governor Mike DeWine’s desk for his expected approval.
It passed in the House with 66 votes in favor including 6 votes from House Democrats. All 27 votes against the legislation came from House Democrats who said the proposed law “is purely political and could have a detrimental effect on Ohio’s college campuses.”
“It could make our campuses less safe by blocking a university’s ability to regulate speech and that could potentially incite violence,” House Rep. Catherine Ingram said in a statement on the Democratic caucus’ blog.
Niraj Antani (pictured), a Republican sponsor of the legislation, pointed out that every Senate Democrat supported the legislation, after Ingram said during debate that the bill intended to promote conservative speech. Andrew Brenner sponsored and led the passage of the Senate version of the bill in January.
“I wonder if House Democrats just try to find a reason to oppose something because it’s Republican-sponsored,” Antani said during debate on the bill, according to Cleveland.com.
Alliance Defending Freedom celebrated the legislation and Zach Pruitt, an attorney for the free-speech legal group, said:
Public colleges and universities are meant to be free and open to the exchange of ideas—a place where our future teachers, lawyers, doctors, judges, community leaders, and voters can exercise their constitutionally protected freedom of speech. The FORUM Act ensures that public universities remain places where intellectual diversity flourishes and all students can engage in the exchange of ideas rather than being censored on campus. We commend the Ohio House for protecting students’ First Amendment freedoms and are hopeful for a speedy final vote in the Senate and a quick response from the governor to sign this important legislation.
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Comments
“Most Democrats oppose it, naturally.”
*fascists
“I wonder if House Democrats just try to find a reason to oppose something because it’s Republican-sponsored”
No, they just really, really oppose free speech. And all your other freedoms.
Because any thought that is not in accordance with The One And Only True Way All Good People Think must be a lie, and it is misleading to let it be known, y’know.
And Assumptions Six and Seven:
Ordinary people neither have the resources, nor the intellect, nor the virtue, to help themselves – or each other – in the “right” ways. Only “experts” and “leaders” can provide such help, and should be empowered with the resources and monopoly on coercive force held by the government to do so.
Establishing the “common good”, as defined at the current moment by our “experts” and “leaders”, is the primary mission of public institutions, particularly our government.
https://parler.com/post/d08de4378f3444e7ae4f296924fc33a5
Appalling that someone felt it was okay to explain that it’s bad to restrict the ability to regulate speech.
No matter what they believe, they should be terrified that if their constituents heard them say that, they would never win another election.
As true as your statement should be, there are (sadly) plenty of people who have been indoctrinated in the ways of The Frankfurt School and Gramsci who think speech regulation is not only beneficial to the greater good, its required.
In this way, they have just about succeeded in their takeover. Infiltration has occurred at every level worldwide. Look at the news media, entertainment industry, education (at every level), corporate governance, and even the one place that should be a truly safe haven: the Christian church (have you read the Pope’s latest on ____? Paid attention to the leftist youths who are turning so many branches of the protestant faith into (what amounts to) Universalist Unitarianism woke ideals and rhetoric?).
They have almost total control over public discourse. Free speech? Have you tried saying what you want on Facebook or Twitter lately? How about expressing a right of center political opinion in almost any company with a robust HR department and a culture of leftist ideology?
The path to salvaging this country has become exceptionally narrow, and that path is a gauntlet of all the aforementioned institutions coming at us simultaneously. It’s all of our faults, really. We chose to ignore them as kooks who would never get near the levers of power, or we ridiculed them for the same reasons. We miscalculated the extent of the rot that has set in. Now, the great reset is nigh. Are we prepared to do what may be necessary to preserve the little that we have left, or are we too far gone?
What? Oh, no, that response has been socially engineered out.
Free speech is good… except for “hate speech,” which is bad and shouldn’t be allowed.
We support the Second Amendment… except for “assault weapons,” which should be banned.
People should be secure in their homes and possessions… except where “evil drugs” are involved, because they’re evil.
And the tyrants reserve the power to add to the hate speech, assault weapons, and evil drugs categories arbitrarily, so that you really don’t have any guaranteed rights at all.
Unfortuntately for them, this trick works both ways.
Murder is bad… except for the assassination of tyrants, which is laudable.
“It could make our campuses less safe by blocking a university’s ability to regulate speech and that could potentially incite violence…”
That would, of course, be the left-sanctioned violence rained down upon those who would dare express conservative thought on campus. Free speech is fine and all, as long as it is free speech that has been approved.