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On Campus, Free Speech at Odds With Tax
Funding
On March 22nd, David Huffman www.tnhonline.com/news/2005/03/22/LettersampCommentary/Discrimination.At.Mub.Event-899170.shtml
spoke out in the University of New Hampshire’s
(UNH) student newspaper against being excluded from
an on-campus public event. He was excluded for
being male. The incident spotlights the shell game
being run on state campuses across North America
under the guise of free speech.
As a student, Huffman’s fees paid for the
public forum from which he was barred. As
taxpayers, his family underwrote his being treated
like a black in the Pre-Bellum South.
Critical commentary on the incident has dwelled
upon freedom of speech. But such commentaries miss
the deeper point that ‘freedom of speech’
and ‘tax-funding’ are antagonistic
concepts.
But, first, the facts of the Huffman
incident:
On March 10th, “Patriarchy Slam” was
held by the radical Feminist Action League (FAL) in
a room reserved by a second and recognized student
group. (The significance of this is that the free
room was used in violation of UNH policy.) Posters
across the campus advertised the meeting as a
public event, with no indication of “Women
Only.”
Patriarchy Slam expressed radical anti-male
feminism. For example, some FAL members wore
scissors around their necks as they sang in praise
of castration. One member, who identified herself
as
http://www.moral-flexibility.net/blog/archives/97
Mary Man-Hating-Is-Fun, told the gathering,
“Ever since I learned to embrace my feminist
nature, I found great joy in threatening men's
lives…because I see them for what they are:
misogynistic, sexist, oppressive and absurdly
pathetic beings who only serve to pollute and
contaminate this world…”
Huffman claims that the coordinator advised him
“as a man I would be intimidating.” Thus,
when the open-microphone segment began, Huffman was
instructed to leave even though he had caused no
disruption. Other men remained but, according to
Huffman, he was told they had “allegiance to
the FAL.”
Moreover, he
http://www.rense.com/general63/dur.htm explains FAL
“confiscated my program….Evidently, they
do not want the public knowing what was said that
night….What I heard…was a hate
rally."
Huffman is a journalist for the privately funded
conservative student paper
http://www.commonsenseunh.com/ Common Sense; FAL
claims he was excluded as a journalist, not as a
man. But, then, why was Shannon O'Neil, a female
reporter for The New Hampshire, allowed to
stay?
Moreover, Anne Lawing, Vice President of Student
Affairs, comments, "This was a public event, and to
turn anyone away is simply wrong. If you're a man
you shouldn't be turned away…if you're a
reporter, you shouldn't be turned away."
Lawing also
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=52432
raises freedom of speech. “We're talking about
their rights [FAL’s rights] and the
First Amendment.”
Lawing is flatly wrong. FAL members have no
First Amendment right to express themselves at
taxpayer expense at a venue that has been
improperly obtained. FAL has no First Amendment
right to exclude well behaved ‘others’
from public property because of their views. (FAL
member Nicole Whalen later stated, “women
didn’t want to speak in front of him
[Huffman]” because "we knew he was a
conservative writer from 'Common Sense,' and we
knew his intentions weren't genuine.")
When asked if a fratboy event that called for
the mutilation of female genitalia would be
tolerated, Lawing replied, "We have so much data
that shows that fraternities have been violent with
women in the past and the instances of women being
violent to men happen so infrequently."
Again, Lawing is flatly wrong. Unbiased research
shows that women commit violence with significant
frequency. Moreover, so-called “hate
speech” does not become actionable at UNH only
if accompanied by a record of criminal assault.
Hypotheticals are not necessary. Last fall,
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5056.html
Timothy Garneau was kicked out his dorm and left to
sleep in a friend’s car for posting a flier in
his dorm’s lobby, near the elevator. It read,
"9 out of 10 freshman girls gain 10-15 pounds
[the notorious Freshman 15]. But there is
something you can do about it. If u live below the
6th floor take the stairs. Not only will u feel
better about yourself but you will also be saving
us time and wont be sore on the eyes."
Garneau had no history of violence.
Nevertheless, he required the intervention of the
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, with
its considerable legal clout, to regain
housing.
Did UNH violate Garneau’s freedom of
speech? I don’t know because I have no clear
concept of what free speech means on tax-funded
property.
Freedom of speech in the private sphere means
that you have the right to express yourself at your
own expense. But everyone is forced to pay for the
UNH campus and, so, everyone should have an equal
right to speak. That’s the theory.
But implementing this theory is impossibility. A
podium is a limited good that must be
‘assigned’ by authorities. At UNH and on
most campuses, a handful of authorities have
adopted policies that censure expression that is
discriminatory, “hate-speech,” or
otherwise offensive. This often means nothing more
than speech of which they do not approve.
In short, even if unlimited access to scarce
podiums were possible, the authorities would not
permit it. This is the contradiction inherent in
trying to reconcile the terms ‘free
speech’ and ‘tax funding’.
The solution is simple: privatize. Just as
Huffman’s conservative paper is privately
funded so, too, should scissor-wielding feminists
be forced to finance their own pro-castration
agenda. That would be freedom of speech. That would
constitute the exercise of First Amendment
rights.
©2010, Wendy
McElroy
* * *
Wendy
McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com
and a research fellow for The Independent Institute
in Oakland, Calif. She is the author and editor of
many books and articles, including her latest book,
Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the
21st Century. She lives with her husband in
Canada. E-Mail.
Also, see her daily blog at www.zetetics.com/mac
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