We previously reported that the University of California system–a government network subject to the free-speech provisions of the Constitution–was proposing a university-wide speech code that banned “intolerant” “expressions.” See here.
On Thursday, Sept. 17 (ironically, “Constitution Day”), the proposal was the subject of a large public meeting.
According to F.I.R.E. (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education):
The most worrying statements came from Regent Richard C. Blum, whose wife is United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. Blum said earlier in the meeting that “we’ve been too tolerant, too patient about all this for too long,” and continued:
I should add that over the weekend my wife, your senior Senator, and I talked about this issue at length. She wants to stay out of the conversation publicly but if we do not do the right thing she will engage publicly and is prepared to be critical of this university if we don’t have the kind of not only statement but penalties for those who commit what you can call them crimes [of speech], call them whatever you want. Students that do the things that have been cited here today probably ought to have a dismissal or a suspension from school. I don’t know how many of you feel strongly that way but my wife does and so do I.
Yes, a UC Regent flatly threatened the university with political consequences if it failed to craft a “tolerance” policy that would punish—and even expel—its violators.
See F.I.R.E.’s discussion here.
Government colleges and universities are increasingly repressive environments, dominated by socialist and pro-government ideology, where pro-market, individualist, and antigovernment sentiments are silenced.
