So, Texas State University police kicked a group of Christian extremist who were "preaching" in the school's free speech zone off campus today citing class disturbance and "hate speech" as their reasons. The school does have a hate speech policy, and a reasonable person could make a strong argument that the derogatory and aggressive speech against women (whores etc) homosexuals (fags, sodomizers etc) soldiers (baby killers etc) violated the university's hate speech policies. Do you think campus authorities violated the constitution by removing the "preachers" from a public forum? Or do you think they were legal/right to ask the preachers to leave TSU??? I watched it happen (after being called a baby murdering psycho) and honestly couldn't give a shit less about the "preachers'" rights. I thought they were clearly on hate speech ground and had far lost educational value. So that's my opinion. BUT this caused a huge student debate so I am curious for outside perspectives/opinions or maybe someone could provide actual legal knowledge?
I guess I don't know enough information from this to give an extremely insightful answer. If the school does have a hate speech policy then I don't think there's anything wrong with kicking them off campus. I don't see how some of the terms they used can be argued as not a "hate speech." Perhaps the fact that this was affiliated with religion adds to the controversy but in the end, they could have got their message across in a more respectable, mature manner.
on a kind of relevant-to-me note, My school is protesting putting a Chick-Fil-A on campus. Because Chick-Fil-A donated to "Focus on the Family" a charity that supports traditionally marriage. So now I don't get my damn chick-fil-a because of extreme liberals. I could say more things about this but I feel like people would hate me. Lol
Speaking of traditional marriage...how the hell has DOMA NOT been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court? And how is "marriage is between a man and woman" not a religious concept? "violating separation of church and state" considering homosexuality occurs (is documented) in over half a dozen other species.
Of the school has a hate speech police than clearly it was the right thing to do. And even if the school didn't the state does, being has the school is under the state laws actions must have been taken. Freedom of speech does not mean you can say whatever you want... Freedom of speech means you can say what you want without causing prejudice or insulting others...
There's no such thing as freedom of speech! I can't really make a precise judgement about this situation because I don't know what was said in that zone. However there are many people who take this *FOS* a tad to far...
As Alice said there is no freedom of speech. It's just there. The school knew exactly what they were doing when they implemented the policy which led to the protesters being escorted off campus. Unfortunately people have the right to say whatever they want. It's just some things get them in big trouble. I think one of the biggest things in that protest was calling soldiers baby murderers which signaled the heads to remove them from campus.
However from reading what you have wrote and if what you said is true,then I don't blame the campus authorities for their actions. When it comes to Religion- the most controversial subject, aggressive language will not help get the message across..