Columbia University Students Have Been Against Free Speech For Generations
According to Ross Kaminsky of Real Clear Politics, the ruckus caused the Columbia University students when Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist came to speak is nothing new. Turns out a good portion of the student body have been against free speech for…generations.
Around 1960, Ayn Rand was invited to speak at Columbia. My father went to hear her. She was shouted down and, unable to address the crowd, left the podium after properly scolding the students for their bad manners. The protesters spent much of their time railing against the evils of capitalism and liberty.
In about 1985, there were protests and scuffles as students barricaded Hamilton Hall to demand the University divest itself of investments in companies which did business in South Africa. The protesters spent much of their time railing against the evils of capitalism and liberty, with somewhat more physical violence than had been seen 25 years earlier.
And now, 20 years after those protests, I see Columbia students act aggressively, irresponsibly, and disgustingly, trying to silence another invited speaker.
Will you look at that? Liberal students are against free speech, which is interesting because free speech is what they say they are entitled to when they spout their nonsense. At least the right will listen and then disagree. The left says that people are entitled to free speech as long as they agree with you. What a bunch of crap!
Kaminsky then quotes a letter written to the editor which really takes the cake.
… “Shame on the College Republicans for inviting this fascist thug and provoking such outrage on our campus.” …
Now where have I heard this before?…I know…in the bible. In Genesis, Adam ate of the fruit given to him by Eve. When God questioned Adam about why he ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, he responded: Genesis 3:12 “The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”” So it was God’s fault Adam ate the fruit because He is the one who gave him Eve. This line of protest did not work in Adam’s time and it will not work now. By the very definition of freedom, we are all responsible for our own actions. Blaming someone else for what I do is a copout.
Kaminsky nails the issue down between liberals and conservatives in one paragraph.
It is a remarkable thing about liberals (or, at Columbia, outright leftists) in free societies: They are far more intolerant than conservatives. The protesters hate people who oppose illegal immigration. They accept the use of intimidation and violence to keep such people from speaking, then blame the victim for having been controversial. Conservatives generally don’t hate people for their views even if those views are as wrong-headed as those of many (or, in my experience, most) Columbia students.
By-in-large, liberals have forgotten what America is all about. People came to this country to practice their freedom of speech, their freedom of religion, to avoid political intolerance. And yet this is exactly where liberals want to take us: back to where there is freedom of speech—as long as it conforms to their standards. Where the only religion is the worship of self. Where there is freedom of political expression—as long as it is liberal enough. This is not the kind of freedoms expressed in the Declaration of Independence or in the Constitution.
Kaminsky wraps up his article with this observation.
Throughout all the years that my family and friends have attended Columbia, it has repeatedly represented itself as a truly illiberal institution, in a way that only the most “liberal” institutions can. The students live in a world which would make Orwell shudder: speech can justify violence, economic conservatives are called “fascists”, and any talk the students disagree with is labeled “hate speech”.
In this way and others, Columbia represents everything that is wrong with the far left in America today, and I am proud to say that while I do give money to a college, it is not to Columbia.
I don’t blame you Ross, I wouldn’t either. Columbia University students have given themselves a black eye with their conduct during Jim Gilchrist’s speech. They have also let the world know of the true nature of liberalism and its not a very pretty picture.
Jim Gilchrist in a post he calls The Death of Free Speech, discusses the importance of free speech.
There is a national treasure so dear to the American people that it sometimes requires our life, liberty and sacred honor to protect it. The center piece of our National Treasury of Rights is the freedom of speech, the very cornerstone of self governance that countless heroes have fought and died for to preserve.
Could not have said it better. Too bad everyone does not understand this one simple fact. The right to free speech is one of the things that makes America great…as long as you are not at Columbia University.
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