Just last night, Twitchy took a look at the very real phenomenon of designated campus “safe spaces” meant to shield students who feel threatened, or “triggered,” by college guest speakers whose words might “re-traumatize” or somehow harm them emotionally.
An editorial published this week in the University of North Carolina’s Daily Tar Heel is raising some red flags among conservatives for similar reasons, taking on a speech on campus by David Horowitz, which the writers say “rightfully provoked an outcry, including a social media campaign, #NotSafeUNC.”
Agree or not, where the editorial then takes a bizarre left turn is by criticizing Duke University’s recent decision to host Mitt Romney for a discussion of President Obama’s foreign policy.
Romney, while likely briefed extensively about national security issues during his campaign for president, did not match that preparation with a nuanced discussion of national security policy, instead employing charged partisan rhetoric.
Universities, and by extension, student groups, have a responsibility to promote serious discussions about controversial issues. This responsibility is inextricably linked to universities’ statuses as safe havens for free speech.
UNC’s College Republicans and Duke should not lend the pageantry and platforms they did to speakers such as Horowitz and Romney if they will only use their platform to advance ideological agendas with little grounding in academic discussions of these critical issues.
In short, while the UNC College Republicans had every right to invite Horowitz to speak, he shouldn’t have been invited, and the College Republicans should invite better speakers “to promote intellectually substantial discussions.” And safe ones, obviously.
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This whole thing where college leftists hide from scary ideas is just getting insane. https://t.co/JYycYLVn0R
— Jason (@jasonelevation) April 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/0fxgivn/status/589543459473743873
.@CounterMoonbat
I remember a senior Berkeley administrator complaining that a controversy had "brought unwanted debate" to the campus.— Richard5832 (@richard5832) April 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/589504107850768384
https://twitter.com/schraubd/status/589504215908646912
https://twitter.com/schraubd/status/589504391083732993
.@Yair_Rosenberg @dailytarheel it was necessary to destroy free speech in order to save it.
— IWantNothingHat (@Popehat) April 18, 2015
@Popehat @Yair_Rosenberg @dailytarheel Legit. Should we vote, or just trust the politburo to handle it? Voting is messy. Paper kills trees!
— S-M Robinson (@sunoxen) April 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/589504883855724544
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/589505041154772992
https://twitter.com/schraubd/status/589505760180064256
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/589506074618662914
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/589506283646005248
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/589506816343609346
https://twitter.com/schraubd/status/589507362831998976
https://twitter.com/schraubd/status/589507623927480321
Just delivered political talking points rather than intellectually substantial discussions? We wonder what an audit of classes offered on just about any campus would reveal under that standard.
I am all about academic freedom but there is NO room for hate, misinformation & vilification that makes people feel unsafe. #NotSafeUNC
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) April 15, 2015
As a Black, Muslim female student @UNC, it shouldn't take hashtags to make me feel visible or validated. I AM HERE. I EXIST. #NotSafeUNC
— City Pop Girl (@wildlitany) April 15, 2015
https://twitter.com/NuhaKabir/status/588828139448578048
What happened to tolerance? Conservative students at UNC are being vilified after hosting David Horowitz on campus http://t.co/uyh1zHvLIx
— YAF (@yaf) April 17, 2015
For their part, the College Republicans responded with their own letter to the editor.
https://twitter.com/amylutz4/status/589103393706151937
… We do not condone hate speech, but what we must embrace on this campus is intellectual diversity.
If the left can bring a speaker as one-sided and divisive as Angela Davis, who was labeled a “dangerous terrorist” and was put on the FBI Most Wanted List for her involvement in the deadly takeover of a courthouse in Marin County, California, the College Republicans reserve the right to invite a similarly passionate, yet law-abiding, individual in David Horowitz.
Just for fun, check out the University of North Carolina’s biography of “famed activist” Angela Davis, “known for her long-standing commitment to human rights,” who delivered the school’s MLK Day keynote address.
https://twitter.com/shilpi_misra/status/589046628524363776
https://twitter.com/shilpi_misra/status/589047501447106562
What will it take to label hate groups on this campus, as such? @UNCGOP #NotSafeUNC
— ishmael (@ishmaelGB) April 17, 2015
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