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Freedom of Repression

New ruling will allow censorship of campus publications

By John K. Wilson

For almost five years, the Innovator newspaper at Governors State University has been absent from the suburban Chicago campus, banished by the administration’s demands for prior approval of its content. After a June 20 decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Innovator may never be seen again—and many other campus newspapers may join it on the list of… return to article

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    This ruling is just the latest in a series of right-wing attacks on campus freedom of speech. The impetus for such behavior is not that there is left-wing indoctrination on campus, but that conservatives view college campuses as a place where alternative ideas and grassroots movements to challenge authority first take hold.  Conservatives remember the 1960s and are determined to never allow anything of that sort to happen again. When David Horowitz visited my school last year he railed and railed about left-wing bias yet could not provide any evidence of a systematic campaign to stifle conservative thought.  When challenged, Horowitz resorted to puerile insults. His so-called “Academic Bill of Rights” has the pretense of encouraging free speech yet tries to punish professors who give their opinions in the classroom.

    United States Posted by Bud on Jul 6, 2005 at 6:47 PM

    “My co-plaintiffs and I are resolved to appeal to the nation’s highest court,” said Hosty.”

    Sorry, your last hope just retired.

    United States Posted by Lefty on Jul 7, 2005 at 8:34 PM

    You gotta be kidding, there’s one organization called Accuracy in Academe which does nothing but track leftist bias on the campus, they have jillions of examples and so does Horowitz on his frontpage.com website. What’s happening is the ending of the Commies only sanctuary on US campuses that has permitted such degenerates as
    Chomsky and Churchill to spew forth their anti-American and anti-capitalism hatred. Time to end all govt handouts to these campus bumskys.
    Now you pathetic lefties are on your wobbly knees,
    in the oh so familiar sodomite position begging for Uncle George to appoint Gonzalez to the court.
    The author of the torture memos ! Latest recruit to the bankrupt moderate cause !
    The real battles of the future will be between the
    libertarian and the fascist Right. You smegma breath lefties are out of it.

    United States Posted by Red on Jul 8, 2005 at 6:24 PM

    David Horowitz has examples? Oh, yeah, he is really reliable. The man was a Stalinist and a Marxist, not to mention complicit in crimes for publishing classified information in his youth, and he remains a Stalinist to this idea. If so-called ‘Commie’ professors are brainwashing students, then that is because those students are too weak minded to think for themselves. As far as I know, right wing texts, speech, and speakers are not banned on campuses. I myself have heard George HW Bush, David Horowitz, Ann Coulter, and others on several campuses. Get over your paranoia.

    United States Posted by Steve on Jul 9, 2005 at 1:28 AM

    I teach at a major state university and encourage opposing views in my classroom, as do all of the professors I work with.  The rules in my classroom are that dialogue will be respectful, we listen carefully to each others ideas, we try to understand the other person, we support our own ideas/opinions with evidence, and when we can’t find common ground we agree to disagree. I have participated in this type of dialogue as a student and now an instructor and it works.  My students have said and written things that have made me reconsider my position on issues and how I present content to the class.  I really value that kind of interaction and they seem to as well.  Education is not about who’s right or who’s wrong, it’s about respect for the ideas of others and the willingness to see things from other perspectives.  It’s about bringing everything to the table and examining it together.

    United States Posted by sheryl on Jul 9, 2005 at 2:01 AM

    Well, Steve, read The Anti-Chomsky Reader,
    and you’ll see examples up the kazoo.
    David was never a Stalinist, that is simply
    a big lie circulated by Chomsky.
    His The Free World Colossus was the first
    popularization of cold war revisionism
    (1965) and it was recycled D.F. Fleming in
    90% of its content but with full acknowledgement
    of same.
    Interestingly enough people like you attribute
    brainwashing powers to advertisers, et al, but
    never to the one field that is dominated by
    your ilk !
    Sheryl, spare me the liberal mush. Ultimately
    it IS about who is right and wrong, nobody
    holds ideas for the sake of ideas.
    And what so is so valuable about OTHERS’ views ?
    Is it simply because they are OTHERS’ ?
    Frankly, none of us thinks TOGETHER, it is an
    exclusively individual, selfish act and that is GOOD.

    United States Posted by Martin on Jul 11, 2005 at 4:46 PM

    Noam Chomsky? Who cares about Chomsky? I have never read him; he is great with language, but i could care less about what he says on politics. And my ‘ilk’? Just what ‘ilk’ is that, pray tell? A proud veteran? An educator? A capitalist? A voter that (gasp!) has voted for Republicans before? Because if that’s the ilk you are looking for, that’s me! And did I say anything about advertising? I could care less about advertising. More power to them. My point is that if students are too weak minded, too lazy, or too stupid to pick up a book that has an alternative point of view from that of the instructor, that is the student’s problem. If a student, whether liberal or conservative, feels like their views are not getting enough credit, they should consider arguing them better. There is a difference between reasonable debate and invective. It seems Horowitz and his ‘ilk’ might prefer to see the extremists of Free Republic and Democratic Underground have their way, and then there goes the classroom.
    As far as right and wrong, who decides what is right and what is wrong? You? Me? The government? The Koran? The Bible?

    United States Posted by Steve on Jul 11, 2005 at 6:09 PM

    I thought you were a self-declared Marxist
    who got his econ miseducation from the Monthly
    Review ???????
    Chomsky’s terrible with language, Paul Postal
    has unmasked him in that area too, and he’s a
    terrible writer.
    Sorry if I confused you with this other Steve
    that I’ve been debating interminably on this
    site.
    I basically agree with your comments on debate.

    United States Posted by Martin on Jul 11, 2005 at 6:41 PM

    Michael Hardesty, aka Red, Martin, Mikey, Peter, Jack Barnes, etc., are all the same person, a paid conservative TROLL who posts under numerous names (including others’ screen names), and has conversations with himself in order to disrupt liberal discourse. JUST IGNORE HIM.

    United States Posted by Lefty on Jul 12, 2005 at 5:07 AM

    Reminder! There are only 2 kinds of conservatives: 1) idiots and 2) crooks.

    United States Posted by Lefty on Jul 12, 2005 at 5:08 AM

    I Went to the website of one David Horowitz.  I sent him a few emails in response to some of his juvenile comments.  I explained to him why he was idiot, and liar and fool and left my email address for him to respond.  Apparently, he doesn’t have the gonads to engage me.

    David Horowitz - just another mouthy GOP conservative coward.

    One more thing,

    Michael Hardesty, aka Steverino, Red, Martin, Mikey, Peter, Jack Barnes, etc., are all the same person, a paid conservative TROLL who posts under numerous names (including hijacking others’ screen names), and has conversations with himself in order to disrupt liberal discourse. JUST IGNORE HIM.

    There are only 2 kinds of conservatives: 1) idiots and 2) crooks. Michael Hardesty is both.

    United States Posted by Lefty on Jul 14, 2005 at 12:56 PM
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