Maybe Columbia Really Is Nuts
In the past, I've expressed my frustration at the way outsiders such as Mayor Bloomberg have jumped into commenting on events at Columbia. But
this article on InsideHigherEd.com makes me think that the students there really do have a lot to learn about the 1st Amendment. The author points out that President Lee Bollinger has outlined a pretty clear and, I would have thought, incontestable statement regarding free speech.
“This is not complicated,” Bollinger said in an October 6 statement, released two days after student protestors disrupted a talk by the founder of the Minuteman Project, Jim Gilchrist. “Students and faculty have rights to invite speakers to the campus. Others have rights to hear them. Those who wish to protest have rights to do so. No one, however, shall have the right or the power to use the cover of protest to silence speakers. This is a sacrosanct and inviolable principle.”
But statements from a number of student groups suggest that not everyone agrees, and that storming the stage is acceptable form of protest, particularly if the sponsoring group did not take every measure to create a "balanced" conversation.
A statement from the Student Governing Board of Earl Hall, a group that oversees all political, religious and activist groups at Columbia, is more vague, both asserting the right of any speaker, regardless of the “repugnance” of his or her views, to freedom of expression, along with the right of students to “express their dissent vigorously through various forms of protest” – in effect not taking a stand regarding whether this particular form of protest, that is, storming the stage, is something to be supported. Meanwhile, a statement from the Black Student Organization, while stating its members’ position that “the right to free speech is an important question to ask about this event and our university community,” also raises a question of its own about the incendiary nature of the talk.
“We are upset with the manner in which the Columbia College Republicans organized their speaker event. This event did not use the right to free speech responsibly to create a space for dialogue. Instead this event intended to foster prejudice against Mexican migrants and Muslims,” the statement reads in part.
Wow. Lee Bollinger would seem to have a new plank in his educational platform: to teach Columbia undergraduates about respect for the principle of free speech.
