Lesson for Universities: Protect Free-Speech Rights
Colleges across the nation are failing to protect First Amendment rights (“Thugs Win Out,” PostOpinion, Rich Lowry, April 28).
It’s not just Ann Coulter at UC-Berkeley. In New York City, Fordham University prevented a pro-Palestinian group from organizing on campus.
If the speaker has an unpopular opinion or might incite loud or violent opposition, the thugs win out.
God forbid somebody may be upset or offended by a speaker, even when they do not need to attend.
It’s offensive that those in opposition would hinder or stop the exercise of free speech. I may not agree with people’s message, but they have the right to voice it. Peter J. Peirano Ridgewood, NJ
UC-Berkeley initially would not let Coulter appear on campus for fear of violence, even at the expense of freedom of speech.
In 1978, the courts ruled that the right of neo-Nazis to march in Skokie, Ill., a town with a significant Jewish population, was protected speech under the first Amendment. Enough said. David Charak Boca Raton, Fla.
What have we come to, when someone, in this case Ann Coulter, cannot speak at a public university that practically invented the free-speech movement?
If the students themselves are creating chaos, then they need to be expelled. If it is outside agitators, then they must be arrested and charged with fomenting riots. Charlie Honadel Staten Island
It’s very nice that Rich Lowry defended the right of “controversial” Yiannopoulos and “rhe- torical bomb-thrower” Coulter to make public speeches.
But half of the country would like to hear those speeches, and those same people think that the words of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton are controversial.
Why is only the right labeled “controversial”? Isn’t the left often even more so? Republicans, stop apologizing for the beliefs of the right. Angela Lennox-Kay Hackettstown, NJ
Michael Harriot of the Root (“Fast Takes,” April 22) says Richard Spencer is a “scam” because he’s not invited to public colleges but just exploits a “loophole” that allows him to rent the space.
Yet the First Amendment allows us to speak our mind, even if the opinions are unpopular.
Freedom of speech should be cherished at all universities that have public funding without being demeaned or limited to a certain time and place, as Megan McArdle (”Berkeley’s Bull,” also April 22) points out. Spencer Xu Staten Island