free speech

By mandating when prospective campus leaders may begin expressing their ideas to the campus at large, the Elections Board has embroiled the University in yet another free speech controversy.

“Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” purports to examine a link between Islam, institutionalized violence, and oppression, but its organizers dangerously (if unsurprisingly) conflate extremists who practice Islam with the faith itself—a fallacy sure to negate any potential worth in such a discussion.

Freedom of Speech Comes From the People, not the Military
Mudslinging Invalidates Arguments and Has No Place on Opinion Page
Comments on Free Speech and Bollinger Taken Out of Context and Misleading

With the occurrence of recent distasteful incidents on campus, it has come to my attention that many Americans have not been properly potty-trained.

In the days preceding and following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia's campus, numerous faculty members, student groups, and administrators have spoken out; some to commend, some to criticize, and some merely to comment.

“This is about freedom of speech. You can’t just let someone like that go and speak freely.”

Before moving to the U.S., I can only recall one instance during which I felt profoundly uncomfortable expressing my opinions to the people around me. It was in the seventh grade: for fear of being ostracized by my new friends, I could not bring myself to tell them that I had actually hated Titanic.

Only one year ago, Columbia’s ‘”fascist liberal anarchists” undertook their crusade against free speech, storming and occupying the stage from which Jim Gilchrist and his Minutemen comrades were simply presenting their ideas. Just last week, Columbia University proved negligent in its decision to bring in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, granting this bigot and his ideas a legitimizing Columbia University podium which would result in disastrous consequences.

Columbia made national headlines when its University President invited the representative of an oppressive anti-Semitic regime to speak at its Morningside Heights campus.

Spectator’s editorial “Free Speech in Practice” (Sept. 25, 2007) pridefully congratulated the Columbia community, University President Lee Bollinger, and its own pages for their embrace of free speech, open debate, and not fearless approach to controversy.