What Is Going On?

As some of you know, I am a free speech advocate and I have to wonder if our universities and colleges are missing the point.
When I was in my teens, the ACLU went to bat for the American Nazi Party when Skokie, Illinois tried to tried to prevent that organization from holding a parade in the town. Skokie, at the time, had a large population of Jews who had escaped the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.


I sympathized with those Jews but I also sympathized with the Nazi Party in their desire to hold their rally in their desire to exercise their First Amendment rights. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor and I gained a new respect for the Court and the ACLU.

But, today, we are hearing about colleges and universities stifling freedom of speech. They talk about how some speech offends some students, specifically "TRUMP 2016" being chalked onto sidewalks and walls. Do these schools understand that even speech that offends is protected by the Constitution? Are they teaching that concept?

I do not like some people who abuse freedom of speech but it does not matter if I am offended. Voltaire is commonly credited with saying, "I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It." But, apparently, he did not say it. Still, the principle stands and it is one I also stand by.

If you are offended by something someone says or stands for, you have 3 choices: ignore it, refute/rebut it, or repress it.

It appears that colleges are engaging in the third choice.