The Right Not To Be Offended

[PoliticalChic]

1. "Sinclair Community College has banned a student from distributing literature about abortion, birth control, and breast cancer to her classmates after class. The college also bans all distribution of literature on vast areas of campus.

2. “The right to distribute literature about controversial topics is one of Americans’ most hallowed rights,” FIRE [Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ] President Greg Lukianoff said. “If someone’s claim to be offended by speech were all it took to overrule the First Amendment, we would all be reduced to silence. Thankfully the Constitution does not recognize a ‘right not to be offended.’”

3. On February 22, FIRE sent a letter to SCC President Steven Lee Johnson, making clear that “while SCC instructors may limit the expression of students during class time in the service of SCC’s educational mission, such narrowly tailored restrictions for instructional purposes cannot lawfully be extended to restrict all distribution of literature outside of class time.”

4. However, the school defended their restriction of free speech rights.

So…

FIRE wrote Johnson a second letter on March 23, copying Ohio Governor John R. Kasich and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. FIRE asked Johnson to bring SCC’s policies into compliance with the First Amendment and to reply by March 30, but SCC has not responded. "
Dear College Officials: Apply the Constitution

5. It is critical to defend the Constitution, our rights under same...especially when so many folks see their 'good intentions' as superior to it.

 

[Trajan]

I am sure the ACLU will line up with FIRE, against the school, this is just to obvious and the school is oblivious....

 

[martybegan]

Depends, the student was distributing material linking abortion and birth control with breast cancer. That puts the student in the pro-life side of the argument, something the ACLU has a slightly complicated view on.

 

[dilloduck]

on a side note---anyone who claims the right to not be offended is an idiot.

 

[Si modo]

on a side note---anyone who claims the right to not be offended is an idiot.

Exactly.

Even more so, those who claim they have a right not to be offended are some of the biggest enemies of free speech.

Oh, and fuck you.

 

[PoliticalChic]

on a side note---anyone who claims the right to not be offended is an idiot.

Not a side note: the point.


Of course, you just indicted the world minus the United States of America.

 

[dilloduck]

We shall achieve victory when no one's feelings get hurt. The great secular Nirvana.

 

[PoliticalChic]

We shall achieve victory when no one's feelings get hurt. The great secular Nirvana.

Can you imagine how dull the USMB would be????

 

[Ravi]

From what I understand she was distributing them in class. She has no "freedom of speech" right to do so and that ya'll think she does just proves how stupid conservatives really are.

 

[R.D.]

After class, you understand wrong

 

[Si modo]

After class, you understand wrong

Did you just offend ravi??????

 

[Ravi]

She was putting flyers on chairs in classrooms. Not allowing that isn't a violation of freedom of speech.

Idiots, the bunch of you.

 

[PoliticalChic]

From what I understand she was distributing them in class. She has no "freedom of speech" right to do so and that ya'll think she does just proves how stupid conservatives really are.

Let's see if we can pin the tail on the donkey, i.e., where the term 'stupid' applies:

1. From the link:
"Student Ethel Borel-Donohue, who never disrupted class with her literature, came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help."

2. Also from the link:
" In a 1979 decision…a federal district court in Solid Rock Foundation v. Ohio State University fully explained that absent “material disruption” or “substantial disorder,” the distribution of literature on campus is student expression protected by the First Amendment, even if students complain about the content of the message distributed."


Didn't you ask for a link in my last thread?

I wonder why, since you clearly don't know how to use one.


Stupid yet?

 

[Ravi]

On campus is not the same thing as in the classroom.

Maybe you need a brain transplant, PC.

 

[R.D.]

She was putting flyers on chairs in classrooms. Not allowing that isn't a violation of freedom of speech.

Idiots, the bunch of you.

Not true Ravi. If you spread a lie, does that make you a liar or an idiot?

If you want to pretend you know more than is posted at the link at least do it right. LINK

 

[California Girl]

She was putting flyers on chairs in classrooms. Not allowing that isn't a violation of freedom of speech.

Idiots, the bunch of you.

I've read several articles on this... none mention putting flyers on chairs. Link?

 

[Ravi]

Group: Ohio college's policy violates free speech rights | Lancaster Eagle Gazette | lancastereaglegazette.com

 

[PoliticalChic]

On campus is not the same thing as in the classroom.

Maybe you need a brain transplant, PC.

Clean off those specs:
"1. From the link:
"Student Ethel Borel-Donohue, who never disrupted class with her literature, came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.""

I see that explaining this complex situation to you would be like putting an elevator in an out-house.

 

[Ravi]

On campus is not the same thing as in the classroom.

Maybe you need a brain transplant, PC.

Clean off those specs:
"1. From the link:
"Student Ethel Borel-Donohue, who never disrupted class with her literature, came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.""

I see that explaining this complex situation to you would be like putting an elevator in an out-house.

She handed them out in class.

btw, the court case linked at your link, in its conclusion stated:

Nothing in this decision is intended to prevent the University from implementing carefully drawn regulations which allow plaintiffs' fair and reasonable access to all significant points of distribution to all substantial areas of the campus population and which will protect the rights of students and faculty to move freely on campus.

So you're going to sit there and try to convince everyone that schools have no right to regulate what goes on in their classrooms and in fact anything goes? You'd be perfectly happy to see planned parenthood brochures and/or korans left on chairs in classrooms?

 

[California Girl]

Group: Ohio college's policy violates free speech rights | Lancaster Eagle Gazette | lancastereaglegazette.com

Thanks Ravi.

Sinclair general counsel Lauren Ross said Wednesday that the policy does not violate free speech rights.

"A college has the absolute right to regulate activity like that in a classroom," Ross said.

Student Ethel Borel-Donohue was in a classroom when she distributed the fliers, leaving them on chairs, Ross said.

So, they do allege she distributed them in the classroom. That information is not mentioned in other articles.

So, I would need some confirmation one way or the other before I jump on one side or the other.