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Free Speech Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 30, 2016 20 Comments
A Clemson University student who is part of Young Americans for Freedom was praying on campus with a man who's not a student this weekend when an administrator approached them and told them to stop. Red Alert Politics reported:
Clemson stops man from praying on campus: ‘Not a free speech area’ [VIDEO] A man was stopped by a Clemson University administrator for praying on campus, telling him and a Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) activist that “this is not a designated free speech area,” and asking them to leave the area. YAF’s blog The New Guard released the video today. The administrator, Shawn Jones who is the assistant director for client services, also called their praying “solicitation,” and demanded that they would need to fill out paperwork to continue. Clemson receives state and federal funding, and many see these restrictions as disregarding the First Amendment to the Constitution by limiting free speech to certain zones.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 27, 2016 17 Comments
We cover so many stories and events that it's hard to follow up on a lot. I have over 10,000 posts myself, and as a website we have almost 20,000 posts. Usually it's some external reminder (a Facebook Memories notice, a Tweet, or something similar) that triggers an update post. And that's what happened this time, I received a Facebook Memories reminder of my August 27, 2015 post, that on one year ago charges were dropped against Lane Pittman. Do you remember Pittman? Doesn't ring a bell? Pittman was the Florida rocker who was charged with disrupting the peace for playing the Star Spangled banner on July 4th in Neptune Beach, near Jacksonville, Florida man arrested for playing Star Spangled Banner on 4th of July rejects plea deal:
On July 4, 2015, 22 year-old Lane Pittman decided to take his electric guitar and play the Star Spangled Banner on the street outside his friend’s house in Neptune Beach, near Jacksonville. Pittman says that after a police officer asked him to stop, he asked if it was okay to play on the sidewalk, and was told that was okay. And play he did:

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 25, 2016 34 Comments
The University of Chicago has been hailed for its commitment to free speech by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) since January of 2015. Now, the school is in the news because of a letter given to incoming Freshmen. Heat Street reports:
University of Chicago to Incoming Freshmen: Don’t Expect ‘Safe Spaces’ Here The University of Chicago, one of America’s most prestigious and selective universities, is warning incoming students starting this fall not to expect safe spaces and a trigger-free existence during their four-year journey through academia.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 29, 2016 13 Comments
A new documentary first crossed our radar yesterday at College Insurrection. It's a short film about the state of free speech on college campuses which focuses on Brown University, where the filmmaker went to school. Despite the focus on Brown, the issues examined in the film are universal because this is a phenomenon happening all over the country. The social justice warrior left has figured out that they can advance their agenda much easier if they can get everyone else to shut up, so that's just what they're doing.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 28, 2016 12 Comments
A Paris-based publishing house has revised its decision to publish a French version of the German bestseller “Der Islamische Faschismus” (The Islamic Fascism). Written by German-Egyptian author Hamed Abdel-Samad, the book was due to hit the French bookstores in September. Piranha Edition reportedly changed its mind after this month's ISIS-inspired terror attack in Nice that killed 84 people and injured more than 300. If the objective of Islamist violence in Europe had been to force the continent into submission, it is well on its way to achieving them. Piranha Edition justified the decision of not going ahead with the publication by citing the threat of Radical Islam as well its desire of not wanting to strengthen the right-wing French groups critical of Islam. Interestingly, the head office of the Piranha Edition is just within a few minutes of walk from Bataclan, the theatre where 89 people were murdered by Islamic terrorists in November 2016.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 11, 2016 3 Comments
The University of Chicago has the distinction of being recognized by FIRE as a model for free speech in higher education. At the same time, the school is home to a number of BDS activists who typically engage in the shouting down of people with whom they disagree. This dichotomy has led to an ironic impasse on campus. While the administration is committed to free speech, some members of the student government are not. This struggle has been going on for some time. In April, the College Council passed a resolution to divest from Israel. The Chicago Maroon reported:
College Council Passes Resolution Recommending Divestment College Council (CC) approved a resolution last night calling on the University of Chicago to divest from 10 companies that the resolution’s proponents say enable Israeli human rights abuses in Palestine.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 24, 2016 8 Comments
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cannot take criticism and will not tolerate dissent in Turkey . . . or, it seems, in Germany and the Netherlands. In 2014, Erdogan made international news when he ordered sweeping arrests of opposition "journalists, producers, scriptwriters, and even police chiefs" suspected of being aligned with his one of his enemies. The Clarion Project reported at the time:
Two days after Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted at a crackdown against the “evil forces” of his rival Fethullah Gulen, Turkish police embarked on a comprehensive operation to arrest prominent journalists, producers, scriptwriters and even police chiefs allegedly aligned with Gulen.
The arrests of at least 27 people—for the crime of being, as described by Erdogan, "terrorist forces" attempting to "seize control of the state"—were roundly condemned by the EU.  So much so that Erdogan felt compelled to respond, telling the EU to "mind its own business." With this background, it's not surprising that Erdogan has now had a Dutch journalist arrested for an anti-Erdogan tweet (or series of tweets).

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 05, 2016 7 Comments
More than 70 years after the fall of Nazi regime the government in Germany is tightening the noose on free speech. In a latest incident, Germany’s state-run television has removed a satirical clip critical of Turkish President Recep Erdogan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called up the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to apologise for the “deliberately abusive text.” This was an about-turn from Germany’s prior stance on the issue. Only last week, Germany’s top diplomat Markus Ederer had told his Turkish counterpart that freedom of press in Germany was “not negotiable.” However, with over 3 million Turkish immigrants now living in Germany and Europe’s growing dependency on Turkey to regulate migration on its outer borders, has placed Turkey’s President Erdogan in a very strong bargaining position. On Monday, the Program Director of Germany’s largest broadcaster ZDF, Norbert Himmler announced channel's decision to delete the two-minute clip ridiculing Turkey’s Islamist leader’s lavish lifestyle and crackdown on democracy. Himmler told the media that were “limits to irony and satire” and “in this case, [limits] were clearly exceeded.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 28, 2016 28 Comments
Thomas DiMassimo, who rushed Donald Trump on stage at a recent rally, appeared in court this weekend and pleaded not guilty. WDTN News reported:
DiMassimo pleads ‘not guilty’ in stage rush case Thomas DiMassimo, the man accused of rushing the stage during Donald Trump’s rally in Vandalia pleaded not guilty to federal charges. 2 NEWS Investigates’ Natalie Tendall was in the courtroom Friday morning. DiMassimo faces a possible maximum sentence of one year in prison, $100,000 in fines and one year of probation. The Judge allowed DiMassimo to go free until his next court appearance as long as he adheres to some rules. DiMassimo is not allowed to travel outside the southern district of Ohio, he must attend all court appearances and he must undergo a psychiatric evaluation if one is ordered by the Court.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 26, 2016 2 Comments
In his newest Firewall video, Bill Whittle points out that the disruptions at recent Trump events are part of a much larger issue, namely the left's war on speech and ideas with which they disagree. You don't have to like Trump to appreciate Whittle's argument. He provides numerous examples from recent history involving Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro, David Horowitz and more. Here's a partial transcript via Frontpage Mag:
Firewall: American Fascists Well, this election year is getting ugly, and it’s going to get uglier. There have been several massive disruptions both inside and outside of Donald Trump rallies, and more are promised.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 25, 2016 13 Comments
University of Missouri student Mark Schierbecker was one of the student journalists on the scene when former Mizzou professor Melissa Click famously called for some muscle. Yesterday, he published a story with additional details at the College Fix. It seems Click had a second incident with a student reporter that day, a charge she initially denied. Here's part of Schierbecker's report:
VIDEO: Mizzou’s Melissa Click grabbed another journalist’s camera at racial protest Instructed protesters ‘Do not talk to the press’ The University of Missouri communication professor who was fired this month for her role in fighting with student journalists at a racial protest in November has denied her actions then represented a pattern.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 17, 2016 50 Comments
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) serves as a de facto authority on academic freedom, having published the guidelines by which most higher education institutions agree to abide, at least in principle if not legally. AAUP, however, has no legal power to enforce its guidelines. The most it can do is put an institution on a "Censure List," which supposedly impacts the ability to recruit top faculty. I don't know whether it actually has that impact, but that's what's claimed. The University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign (UIUC) was put on AAUP's Censure List after it refused to give a tenured position to controversial hate-tweeting Prof. Seven Salaita. There was a lawsuit by Salaita that was settled for less than the cost of defense without any job. AAUP now is considering whether to remove UIUC from its Censure List. AAUP is jumping to the defense of Melissa Click, the world-famous "muscle prof" who recently was terminated by the University of Missouri after she was caught on video bullying a student journalist and calling for some "muscle" from the crowd to deal with him.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 15, 2016 28 Comments
Melissa Click, the Missouri professor who famously advocated for "using muscle" against student journalists at a campus protest has lost her termination appeal. Following the encounter that was captured on tape, Click was charged with third-degree assault and suspended with pay before being canned. The Wall Street Journal reports:
The board of curators said the appeal, which Melissa Click filed shortly after her Feb. 24 firing, “brought no new relevant information.” Ms. Click’s job paid $58,000, and she was up for tenure this year.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 26, 2016 38 Comments
We reported earlier this week that conservative author Ben Shapiro was banned from speaking at California State University LA by the school's president. The school then relented and said Shapiro could come after all. Then things got crazy. Students who wanted to hear Shapiro speak had to be ushered quietly into the lecture hall through a back door while unhinged student activists and faculty members screamed and tried to force their way through a police barricade protecting the front door.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 25, 2016 14 Comments
The University of Missouri canned the professor captured on video confronting student journalists during a protest last year, the Washington Post reported. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune:
Assistant Professor Melissa Click, captured on video calling for “some muscle” to remove reporters from a campus protest site, was fired Wednesday by the University of Missouri Board of Curators, Chairwoman Pam Henrickson said in a prepared statement. The board voted 4-2 in favor of termination during a closed session in Kansas City, with Henrickson and curator John Phillips opposing the move, UM System spokesman John Fougere wrote in an email Thursday. Curators David Steelman, Donald Cupps, Maurice Graham and Phil Snowden voted in favor of firing Click.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 24, 2016 17 Comments
Conservative author and speaker Ben Shapiro has been banned from making an appearance at California State University Los Angeles by the school's president. Shapiro would apparently present too great a threat to the safe spaces of CSULA's sensitive snowflake students. Christine Rousselle reported at Townhall:
Conservative Writer Ben Shapiro Banned from CSULA Early Tuesday morning, conservative writer Ben Shapiro revealed on Twitter that his planned speech on February 25 at California State University-Los Angeles had been canceled by the university's president.

Posted by New Neo on February 18, 2016 13 Comments
This is potentially disturbing and seems to be part of a trend in Western Europe:
Following a report of a series of alleged offensive online posts relating to Syrian refugees living in Rothesay on Bute, Police Scotland confirmed on Tuesday that a 40-year-old man, understood to be from the Inverclyde area, had been arrested under the Communications Act... Following the arrest, Insp Ewan Wilson from Dunoon police office said: “I hope that the arrest of this individual sends a clear message that Police Scotland will not tolerate any form of activity which could incite hatred and provoke offensive comments on social media.”
In the United States, the only way this sort of arrest might be justified would be if the social media postings were used to specifically call for an imminent act of violence against refugees. That would be tantamount to enforcing our own very limited "incitement to riot" exceptions to our free speech policies.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 28, 2016 12 Comments
University of Missouri professor Melissa Click who famously called for "some muscle" to remove a student journalist from a campus protest was charged with assault on Monday and has now been suspended. Reuters reports:
Missouri suspends professor who called for 'muscle' against student reporter A University of Missouri communications professor who called for "some muscle" to get a student journalist to back off during campus protests in November, was suspended by the school on Wednesday, days after she was charged with misdemeanor assault. The university's board of curators said Melissa Click was suspended with pay pending further investigation and it ordered an investigation to determine promptly whether additional discipline would be appropriate.
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