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Free Speech Tag

Oleg Atbashian is the creator of the satirical political website The People's Cube, which eventually spawned the satirical political website iOwnTheWorld. Atbashian was born in the former Soviet Union and knows the evils of censorship and unchecked government power all too well. As we mentioned in a recent post, he was arrested earlier this month for placing anti-terrorism posters on the campus of George Mason University. Now he's telling the full story:
Why I was arrested & thrown in jail by @GeorgeMasonU police As you may have heard, on November 4th I was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail for posting anti-terror stickers on George Mason University campus. I was charged with "class 6 felony for destruction of property," threatened with five years in prison, and released 14 hours later on $8,000 bail posted by my wife. The court date is now set for February 14th, 2017.

New York University Professor Michael Rectenwald was suspended two weeks ago for a Twitter account he ran which repudiated political correctness. Legal Insurrection readers know that's a form of heresy on college campuses today. He has now been reinstated and with a raise in pay. FOX News reports:
NYU brings back professor who blasted PC culture, gives him a raise Liberal studies professor Michael Rectenwald, the man behind the controversial @DeplorableNYUProf account, has been promoted by prestigious New York University and given a raise days after the university had put him on a paid leave for criticizing politically correct culture on campus.

Providence College is a Catholic school and for many years had a reputation for being a conservative institution. All that has changed under onslaught from Social Justice Warriors. When Literature professor Anthony Esolen recently wrote some op-eds questioning the way racial segmentation through diversity initiatives were implemented, and how it was undermining the unity of the church, he became the object of the progressive left's two minutes of hate. This is a free speech issue to be sure, but it's about other things as well. Leftists on college campuses know they have power and they're always pushing to see how far they can go with it. Campus Reform reports:
PC faculty try to get conservative colleague fired for opinions Students and faculty at a Catholic college are up in arms over a professor suggesting that Catholic unity is more important than cultural diversity. In a September op-ed for Crisis Magazine, a Catholic publication, Literature professor Anthony Esolen argues that society’s increasing focus on the secular culture of ethnicity undermines unity within the Church.

A professor at the University of Toronto recently spoke out against the use of genderless pronouns like "ze," angering left wing students in the process. People held a rally on campus to defend the professor and free speech, but campus activists showed up and intimidated people. They also used a "white noise" machine to drown out speakers. Now the activists are claiming they were the ones who were attacked. The College Fix reported:
Transgender activists attack free speech rally to defend professor who won’t say ‘ze’ Students at the University of Toronto say their student government is fabricating hate crimes, while ignoring attacks made on free speech advocates at an event last week.

Starting this month, Brown University is hosting a lecture series on the importance of freedom of expression. Anyone who has been following news out of Rhode Island's only Ivy League school for the last few years will appreciate the richness of that. A Brown alum named Rob Montz described the situation in an op-ed at USA Today:
What happened to American universities? On October 11, Brown University is hosting the first in a new series of lectures on the proper balance between “freedom of expression, tolerance, and inclusion” on college campuses.

Last month, Syracuse University (SU) made headlines when a faculty member in the Religious Studies Department dis-invited an award-winning Israeli NYU Professor and filmmaker from a campus event out of fear of offending the political sensibilities of her BDS-supporting colleagues (see our prior posts covering the story). At the time, pro-BDS faculty signed a petition (subsequently posted onto Facebook) denying that any pressure to disinvite the filmmaker had existed and expressing their commitment to free speech and academic freedom. But now many of these same professors, keen on moving the campus in a BDS direction, are making demands that call into question this articulated devotion to a campus community open to free expression.