It’s funny. “The Resistance” has called President Trump an authoritarian, a fascist, even a Nazi. Yet some of the most authoritarian, fascistic acts are those of radical leftists on America’s college campuses who have used violence to censor and disrupt programs featuring speakers with whose ideas they disagree.
The two most serious incidents this year have been the riot at the University of California-Berkeley over a visit from right-wing agitator Milo Yiannopoulos, and the violence at Middlebury College in Vermont over a program featuring controversial scholar Dr. Charles Murray. At Berkeley, the students objected to Yiannopoulus’s oft-expressed criticisms of political correctness, social justice, feminism, and other leftist causes, as well as his self-proclaimed identification with the radicals of the “alt-right.” Murray was targeted for his controversial research which has questioned the value of welfare programs and suggested that differences in IQ among different racial and ethnic groups may be partially due to genetics. In both instances, the perpetrators of violence justified their actions by claiming that some views—especially those of Yiannopoulus and Murray—were simply too evil to tolerate; therefore those who espoused them had to be silenced.
Whatever one thinks of the views of the speakers in question, to deny their right to express them is dangerous. The First Amendment exists not to protect the expression not of popular ideas, but of unpopular ideas. As I’ve described in greater detail in a previous column, I caught flack when, as a member of the Stephenville City Council, I defended the right of the Ku Klux Klan to peacefully meet, arguing that to take away the rights of one group because we don’t like its ideology would set a precedent for suppressing others as well—today the Klan, tomorrow the NAACP. It’s always better to allow a group to express its views openly and peacefully, with the understanding that whosoever exercises his right to freedom of speech must respect the right of others to use their right to challenge his views. The city council reacted wisely to Klan provocations by allowing the Klan to demonstrate—and to let the NAACP (at a rally my wife and I helped organize) have a counterdemonstration as well.
Berkeley and Middlebury should have better protected the rights of Yiannopoulus and Murray to present their views, while encouraging civil but vigorous debate. Allowing them to be persecuted by leftist mobs only gave their views more publicity while making them heroes and martyrs to political correctness.
Fortunately, the remarks after the fact made by administrators at Berkeley and Middlebury indicate they know the dangers of suppressing unpopular views. They understand that as two of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the country, Berkeley and Middlebury—and all colleges and universities worthy of the name in America—must be committed to the free exchange and discussion of ideas on campus. Of course, whether actual protections will be strengthened at Berkeley, or Middlebury, or at other schools in the future remains to be seen.
But an additional reason to protect the First Amendment has been offered by our Tweeter-in-Chief. He has suggested that schools where the First Amendment rights of controversial speakers are not respected should have all federal aid cut off. Most American colleges and universities today get federal money in one form or another—research grants for faculty, federally funded student loans, etc. To actually end federal aid would prove most disruptive to the schools, their faculty, and their students. But who knows? If respect for the First Amendment is not strong enough to protect freedom of speech on America’s college campuses, respect for money may be.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville and taught politics and government at Tarleton since 1987. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990 to the present). He was Mayor Pro Tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He is a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Stephenville Rotary Club, and does volunteer work for the Boy Scouts of America. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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