Book from Morty

[Gocatsgo2003]

Mort wrote these paragraphs in a WSJ oped in 2015:

Any attempt to hold people accountable for what they say will rile up the “free speech at any cost” advocates, but any defense of First Amendment rights will lead to campus unrest and hand-wringing. So where to draw that elusive line?

I’m not a lawyer; few university presidents are. But most of us have access to high-powered legal advisers. Sometimes state and federal laws are clear enough to make the decision, but usually they are not. And don’t expect to find agreement among your senior administrators. In a crisis the interests of those in student affairs, public relations, the legal counsel’s office, fundraising and faculty governance seldom align.

What’s a president to do? I have learned over 15 years in this job at two institutions that you better have a compelling reason to punish anyone—student, faculty member, staff member—for expressing his or her views, regardless of how repugnant you might find those views.

Freedom of speech doesn’t amount to much unless it is tested. And if the First Amendment doesn’t matter on college campuses, where self-expression is so deeply valued, why expect it to matter elsewhere?

It sounds like his head is in the right place on the issue. That said, I disagree with the decision to permit those students to interrupt the game, if that was indeed the case, as it violated the rights of the attendees (not that the cost was significant, IMO).

How exactly did it “violate the rights of the attendees?”

 

[Hungry Jack]

How exactly did it “violate the rights of the attendees?”

In a strict legal sense, you could probably make a case about public safety (though clearly no one was in danger). Or you can argue that fans who bought tickets paid to see only athletes on the field, not protestors. As I mentioned before, the psychic cost of the protest is zero, so no harm done. But my guess is that those actions were illegal.

 

[Gocatsgo2003]

In a strict legal sense, you could probably make a case about public safety (though clearly no one was in danger). Or you can argue that fans who bought tickets paid to see only athletes on the field, not protestors. As I mentioned before, the psychic cost of the protest is zero, so no harm done. But my guess is that those actions were illegal.

So “not really.”

 

[No Chores]

So “not really.”

Sort of like fans running onto the field during football, baseball, and soccer games. Irritating simpletons who should have been removed by violent tackles. All they did was piss people off, like this old man. It was clearly an inappropriate place to protest and they certainly did nothing to benefit their cause.

 

[Gocatsgo2003]

Sort of like fans running onto the field during football, baseball, and soccer games. Irritating simpletons who should have been removed by violent tackles. All they did was piss people off, like this old man. It was clearly an inappropriate place to protest and they certainly did nothing to benefit their cause.

Mildly irritating stodgy old white dudes was kind of the whole point.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Mildly irritating stodgy old white dudes was kind of the whole point.

Wow, these students are so smart. Can’t wait until that old white dude runs on the field to advocates restrictions on immigration. The snipers will be in towers of Ryan Field waiting for the signal.

 

[No Chores]

Mildly irritating stodgy old white dudes was kind of the whole point.

Might have been, but the venue was inappropriate. Besides, like me, you should be watching Ben Skowronek catching passes in the Super Bowl!

 

[CatManTrue]

Sort of like fans running onto the field during football, baseball, and soccer games. Irritating simpletons who should have been removed by violent tackles. All they did was piss people off, like this old man. It was clearly an inappropriate place to protest and they certainly did nothing to benefit their cause.

How do you know they did nothing to benefit their cause?

Their protest received some national attention. It was only deleted on this board.

 

[No Chores]

How do you know they did nothing to benefit their cause?

Their protest received some national attention. It was only deleted on this board.

Getting national attention and benefiting your cause often are two different things

 

[AdamOnFirst]

How exactly did it “violate the rights of the attendees?”

I don’t fully understand the complaints about the Iowa game. It took a couple minutes to clear them off the field, but it wasn’t like it lasted for 10 minutes. The only brouhaha about it related to Fitz’ comment about player safety and a few woke student writers taking issue with that.

I was at the Vikings game when the pipeline protesters dangled themselves from the rafters (directly in front of me) and unfurled a DaPL banner. That also took time to deal with. I don’t really see what else people wanted security to do.

 

[Gocatsgo2003]

Might have been, but the venue was inappropriate. Besides, like me, you should be watching Ben Skowronek catching passes in the Super Bowl!

What is an “appropriate” venue for protest? Wouldn’t restricting protest to such “appropriate” venues undercut the whole premise of protest?

 

[CatManTrue]

Getting national attention and benefiting your cause often are two different things.

But we’re still discussing the perils of inflation and the need for lower gas prices & world peace months later. The protestors won.

 

[No Chores]

What is an “appropriate” venue for protest? Wouldn’t restricting protest to such “appropriate” venues undercut the whole premise of protest?

No.

 

[No Chores]

But we’re still discussing the perils of inflation and the need for lower gas prices & world peace months later. The protestors won.

Brilliant!

 

[Hungry Jack]

What is an “appropriate” venue for protest? Wouldn’t restricting protest to such “appropriate” venues undercut the whole premise of protest?

I guess private property rights are a minor inconvenience. Of course, if someone does something dumb on your private property and gets badly hurt, the owner often gets taken to the cleaners.

 

[Titanium999]

NU as an institution is not woke. They say the right things to appear to be PC in most cases, as long as it doesn't upset donors or mess with its endowment.

All tax free, I may add!