US law chief ’s defence of free speech met by kneeling protest
JEFF SESSIONS, the US Attorney General, vowed last night to aggressively crack down on political correctness at American universities, saying free speech was “under attack”.
Mr Sessions indicated his department of justice would intervene on behalf of people who sue colleges claiming their constitutional rights to express their views were violated.
In a speech at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, Mr Sessions heavily criticised educational institutions that ban controversial speakers.
He said: “Freedom of thought and speech on the American campus are under attack. The American university was once a place of robust debate, a forum for the competition of ideas. But it is transforming into an echo chamber of political correctness and homogeneous thought, a shelter for fragile egos.”
Mr Sessions added: “Protesters are now routinely shutting down speeches and debates across the country. This is not in the great tradition of America. And, yet, school administrators bend to this behaviour.”
The controversy over free speech on campuses has occasionally descended into violence. In February, at the liberal University of California, Berkeley, protesters smashed windows and threw Molotov cocktails ahead of a planned speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, the controversial “alt-right” activist.
Mr Sessions was met by protests at Georgetown after 30 law professors there signed a letter accusing him of “hypocrisy”. They cited Mr Trump’s current feud with the NFL and his demands that football players be banned from kneeling during the national anthem in protest at racism. Echoing this, around 200 students and staff knelt outside the auditorium at Georgetown ahead of Mr Sessions’ speech.
Richard Hand, a third-year law student, said: “I find it hypocritical for a member of the Trump administration to act as a champion for free speech while the president has consistently mocked and insulted those trying to exercise the very same rights.”
Inside, Mr Sessions responded: “Well, the president has free speech rights, too. He sends soldiers out every day to defend this country under the flag of the United States, under the national anthem, and the unity those symbols call on us to adhere to.
“I agree that it’s a big mistake to protest in that fashion because it weakens the commitment we have to this nation.”
Meanwhile, four days after the NFL row flared, matters continued to escalate as the entire Dallas Cowboys team knelt before a game. Mr Trump responded on Twitter, saying fans had shown “great anger” with the team.
He said: “The booing at the NFL foot- ball game last night was loudest I have ever heard. The only way out for the NFL is to set a rule that you can’t kneel during our National Anthem!”
Mr Trump also faced criticism for his response to hurricane devastation in Puerto Rico after he said the US territory would have to repay existing debts. ♦ The latest Republican attempt to repeal “Obamacare”, Barack Obama’s main domestic policy legacy, ended in failure last night after a small group of Republican senators indicated they would oppose it.