As the Thought Police gear up to try and shut down free speech on all UNC campuses, over at NC State, Chancellor James Oblinger is happy to endorse restrictions on his campus. From the News & Observer (emphasis is mine):
N.C. State University Chancellor James L. Oblinger announced Wednesday that he would accept all the recommendations from a campus culture task force he appointed after racist threats were painted in the university’s Free Expression Tunnel in November.
There will be several modest changes at the tunnel itself, such as better lighting to increase safety and information posted to make the purpose of the tunnel clear. There also will be greater efforts to educate students on racial issues, and harsher punishment under the student code of conduct for violations motivated by hate against protected groups.
“The North Carolina State University campus has clearly demonstrated that while we support free speech, we have a standard for uses of free speech,” Oblinger wrote in a letter to the commission Wednesday. “Students, faculty and staff rallied against racist language and actions. Your work will help us continue to develop a diverse and welcoming campus.”
A “diverse and welcoming campus” doesn’t divide people into groups, bestowing special rights to those it decides should be “protected.”
The comments written in the Free Expression Tunnel last November about the president were disgusting, tasteless, and juvenile. The young people who engaged in the activity have been held up to ridicule and their actions and words shunned.
It is scary that a university — the so-called marketplace of ideas — is stepping all over a fundamental right of every American citizen. Heaven knows that every day I am offended by things people say and do, but I don’t try to squash their right to say or do them. I challenge their words and thinking, or I simply act like an adult and ignore them.
Where are the grown-ups on university campuses these days?
