At A University That Gets Federal Funding? Better Tape Your Mouth Shut.
This is a terrific little video about the insane new speech codes the feds are pushing on universities.
Say "You're a pussy!" to somebody on campus? Tell a slightly dirty joke? Compliment somebody on their appearance? If they object, you've violated the new speech code.
In other words, yes, the federal government has become the thought police force of the college campus -- any college campus that gets federal funding, which is to say, almost all of them.
Reason editor Matt Welch highlights an essential issue here (in his three-minute interview with FIRE's Greg Lukianoff) -- that universities that refuse to punish any speech of a sexual nature that offends anyone will lose federal funding.
If you have any money to spare, please donate to theFIRE.org -- they are doing a big push to fight this, and will need to fund it. They defend the free speech rights of anyone on campus who has them violated -- people who otherwise would not be able to afford a defense.
Marc Randazza did the same for me. Without him coming to my rescue (and that of other bigmouthed broads who exercise their free speech rights), I would likely be spending the rest of my life paying $500,000 to the TSA worker who decided she'd make herself some cash stomping all over my First Amendment right to speak out about her violation of my Fourth Amendment rights.
Free speech issues aside, one also has to wonder: why are the feds providing direct funding to colleges? And why are the colleges dumb enough to accept it, when it comes with so many strings attached?
a_random_guy at May 16, 2013 1:11 AM
a_random_guy:
For that to be a problem, you'd have to disagree with the strings.
Unix-Jedi at May 16, 2013 5:12 AM
No need for tape if you're not a whitemale.
dee nile at May 16, 2013 5:40 AM
a_random_guy, did you watch the video? Federal funding includes student loans. If students didn't take out loans, you know how many colleges we'd have left?
Patrick at May 16, 2013 6:35 AM
Self-righteous harangue about how students shouldn't take out loans...quite forgetting I never said whether they should or shouldn't. Just that the reality is that most of them do.
Coming in 3...2...1...
Patrick at May 16, 2013 6:36 AM
The problem isn't universities taking federal dollars, or students taking on ill-advised loans, it is that the government seeks to expand its powers beyond what it is permitted.
I'm wondering which parts of the following that the brain trust at the Dept of Education is having problems with:
Congress shall make no law ... or abridging the freedom of speech
shall? no? abridging? oh, wait, you want to try for "unprotected speech"? unprotected speech is the sort of thing that will cause an immediate, and potentially threatening ruckus.
But you don't need a speech code for that, it's already unprotected...
I R A Darth Aggie at May 16, 2013 9:20 AM
And this expansion of government power beyond its bounds? that's not new. Thanks, 5th Congress.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 16, 2013 9:26 AM
Well, theres another nail in the coffin for the EDU industry. Bubble pop commencing!
Sio at May 16, 2013 10:35 AM
@Patrick: "If students didn't take out loans, you know how many colleges we'd have left?"
Is that a bad thing? I mean, it might be, but it's not a foregone conclusion.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at May 16, 2013 12:04 PM
"that universities that refuse to punish any speech of a sexual nature that offends anyone will lose federal funding."
This will last right up until the moment someone pushes this against campus feminist groups. This policy covers gender speech, not just overtly sexual speech. The whole corpus of feminism falls under that definition.
Jim at May 16, 2013 1:57 PM
@Patrick: "If students didn't take out loans, you know how many colleges we'd have left?"
I'd guess about 70%, but tuition would drop like a stone in those left, and many ammenities like diversitydepartments would close.
Joe J at May 16, 2013 5:51 PM
The presumption that everyone needs a college education is a fallacy.
The presumption that the federal government should be involved in primary or higher education is unconstitutional and a fallacy.
The presumption that a college shouldn't be a profit driven business just like a manufacturer, farmer or any other company is another fallacy.
Why can't a loan officer in a bank sit down with a student looking for a Ph.D. degree in women's studies and laugh his off?
Jim P. at May 16, 2013 7:52 PM
If university administrators weren't complete invertebrates (and yeah, I know, if pigs could, we'd need steel umbrellas) then they would release a group statement to the effect of "... these speech codes are a grotesque affront to a free people Our universities reject them completely, and we will have absolutely no part in enforcing any of them"
As if.
Jeff Guinn at May 16, 2013 10:36 PM
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