FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA, 2018 – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  There has been a bad incident at another university.  Our kids are under serious danger, physical danger, from the fringe left, but the coverage in the mainstream media is minimal.  From Fox:   

Five people were arrested as fights broke out and at least one American flag was burned Saturday after a college Republican rally in Seattle drew counter-protesters.

College Republicans at the University of Washington had invited members of Patriot Prayer, a group in Vancouver, Wash., to speak in the university's Red Square for a "freedom rally," the Seattle Times reported.

The goals were to bring conservatives together and promote free-speech rights, College Republicans President Chevy Swanson told the Times. As the event got underway, supporters chanted "U-S-A!,

U-S-A!," and signs included one that read, "We died for liberty not socialism."

But more than 1,000 counter-protesters showed up to oppose the event.

"I learned that they thought my vote was a hate crime,” Kathryn Townsend, who said she voted for Donald Trump in 2016, told Seattle's Q13 Fox.

Some counter-protesters voiced their goals.

“We’re here to fight back against the far right and fascism on our campus,” one counter-protester said.

Added another: “I’m not a fan of the president, and these people are fans. So I want to come out here and say this is not OK. And what you’re doing is not OK.”

After several skirmishes broke out, police responded with pepper spray. University of Washington police said those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct.

COMMENT:  There is some pushback against these attempts to disrupt conservatives.  Many state legislatures are weighing proposals to strengthen, by law, the free-speech rights of students at public institutions.  A similar proposal has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. 

Also, some brave souls on college campuses are waking up to the danger of suppression and chaos in academic settings.  Harvard recently held a symposium on civil discourse.  A number of colleges have established strong free-speech standards.  Alas, a number of other colleges have refused to do so.

Many attempts to protect students' rights will run into tough sledding from the political left, which believes that free speech should only apply to their side.  Anything else is "hate speech."  But, I have guarded optimism that our side will eventually prevail, if not by much.  One factor is that parents are increasingly asking what their kids are getting for $50,000 or more a year.  The market works, if slowly.

February 11, 2018