Tuesday, October 21, 2003

A summary of recent campus free speech issues 

David Bernstein of the Volokh Conspiracy offers a summary article (requires free registration) on campus free speech issues, leading with the rash of affirmative action bake sales that have been shut down.
The purpose of the bake sale was to make a political point, not to engage in discrimination. The bake-sale organizers were engaging in a clever bit of street theater; so clever, in fact, that it led some student groups opposed to the event's message to persuade Peterson to use a foolish interpretation of a nondiscrimination policy to shut it down.

Unfortunately, public universities in California have a history of stifling dissent on racial matters, and of kowtowing to student interest groups that claim to be offended by their fellow students' speech.

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