I couldn’t help from borrowing that old cliche from “Love Story” from the early 1970’s. Times seem to be repeating themselves with all of the agitation popping up around the country and here in California. Free Speech on college campuses has been one of the great battles in this decade. College campuses have inaugurated speech codes and other draconian efforts to squash voices that they disagree… however thanks to organizations like FIRE, this is changing.
What is ‘free speech’, anyway? It is the right to express yourself. Now, not all free speech is sweet, a lot of it can be downright offensive, but then who is it to judge? Obviously, there are limits on free speech, like yelling ‘fire’ in a theater, but by and large it is all basically fair game!
And the best way you can combat someone’s offensive free speech is by exercising your own!
This brings us to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, home of the ‘Sheldon Award Winner’ President Warren Baker. Currently he is under pressure from various folks who want him to expell and punish, possibly even ‘waterboard’ a few students who in exercising their free speech managed to offend just about everyone. Well, most thinking people feel mobs are bad , so hopefully ol Dr. Baker can get it together long enough to give them a lesson on what is ‘free speech’!
Cal Poly is holding a ‘discussion’ soon and a lot of ‘free speech’ folks are watching. Here’s why Cal Poly is so worried!
Roger Freberg