Collin College Tries to Ban ‘Anger’ at Board Meetings
“Anger, obscene or profane language, ridicule, personal attacks, and disruptive conduct are not acceptable behavior during the public comment period.”
Tempers have been flaring at meetings at this school, so they just banned anger. Can you ban an emotion?
From the FIRE Newsdesk:
Flailing: Collin College attempts to ban “anger” at board meetings
After enduring months of faculty, student, and public anger over the terminations of faculty members — dismissed for supporting a faculty union, criticizing the college’s COVID-19 reopening, or drawing the ire of elected officials — Collin College’s board is going back to censorship basics: The board has decided to ban the public from expressing “anger,” “ridicule,” and “personal attacks” during its meetings.
The restrictions on feelings and criticism were included among the new rules promulgated before Tuesday night’s board meeting.
They provide, among other things, that:
Anger, obscene or profane language, ridicule, personal attacks, and disruptive conduct are not acceptable behavior during the public comment period.
If the offending speaker continues to violate this provision after a warning, they may be removed with “assistance from law enforcement officials.” Although the college’s board can’t itself hold citizens in contempt, law enforcement can pursue criminal charges — as another Collin County resident recently learned during a county board meeting.
In a “working” meeting preceding the regular board meeting, one board member questioned whether it was appropriate for the restrictions — which appear to have been cribbed from those used by a city council in Wyoming — to ban “anger,” rightly pointing out that this is an emotion. That led the board’s chair to pledge that some revisions will be made in future drafts of the speech code.
the @collincollege Board of Trustees has handed out guidelines on what members of the public are and aren't allowed to say in public comments at the meetings, including the following guidance: Anger and ridicule are not allowed.
cc @TheFIREorg pic.twitter.com/5TQZDXRCCH
— L.D. Burnett (@LDBurnett) June 23, 2021
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Comments
Remember, free speech is a wonderful thing as long as you don’t abuse it by saying unkind things about your betters.
Guidence: THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES.
“Anger” will be defined the same as “hate speech,” namely anything that those in power don’t want to hear.
How about being visibly upset?
Collin College meetings: Showing all the no-holds-barred, give-and-take concern for free speech and debate of North Korean Communist Party congresses.
If you don’t appreciate my anger and ridicule, don’t piss me off.