Student Government Votes to Abolish Safe Spaces, University President Rejects 'Zero Tolerance' Policy for Hate Speech

Good news for a change.

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s American University's student government moves closer to the "mandatory trigger warnings" position, another university's student government has approved a resolution expressing formal opposition to safe spaces.

Middle Tennessee State University's Student Government Association votes 33-6 in favor of the resolution, which was sponsored by College Republicans leader April Carroll. Carroll put forth the resolution because she was concerned "about how politically correct my college campus was getting, according to Campus Reform.

It was passed after "much deliberation," she said.

Meanwhile, University of North Dakota President Mark Kennedy has rejected student activists' demands for a zero tolerance approach to hate speech on campus in response to racial incidents, according to The Washington Examiner's Ashe Schow:

In the wake of the photos, students met with Kennedy to discuss a "zero tolerance" policy on offensive speech. In an email to students after the meetings, obtained by the popular North Dakota blog Say Anything, Kennedy rejected the proposal on First Amendment grounds.

"While I appreciate the desire for such a policy, it is unachievable under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," Kennedy wrote.

These are welcome developments for free speech enthusiasts, although I don't think the tide is turning against safe spaces yet.

Comments

[Gojira]

There are only a few universities from which the ruling class is culled. The only thing that matters is what happens at Harvard, Yale, and maybe Stanford. It's nice that Bumfuck U has declared its hostility to safe spaces, but unless your goal is to gain a powerful ally in the form of Bill Watson, City Alderman and used car dealership owner, it's meaningless.

[wareagle]

There are only a few universities from which the ruling class is culled.
That may be true but it's Hayseed U and Redneck Tech that make the country go. And there are more Hayseeds and Rednecks than rulers. At least some folks have finally said "enough" to the bullshit. Doesn't mean Libertopia is on the horizon but the proles are shaking off the notion that resistance is futile.

[The Late P Brooks]

Tennessee is filled with racist hicks. Pay no heed.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

"While I appreciate the desire for such a policy"

not exactly a full-throated defense of the 1A.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, I noticed that too. However, it could be taken in a couple of ways. One is, "I really want to curb speech but it'll get struck down by the courts." The other is, "I don't want curbs on speech but if I make a stand, it'll bring a shitstorm down on me. However, I can just cite court rulings which gets me what I want without having to put my neck on the line."

[wareagle]

It's a political job. You have to mollify the SJWs but it has to be done in a way that makes doing so sound reasonable. Surely he and others in his cohort have learned that giving in to these folks does not signal a stopping point.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

his bio's a mixed bag. i'm thinking he'd sell out for a cushy ride w/o shitstorm.

[Zeb]

I'd read it as "I can understand people wanting such a policy, and can even sympathize with such a desire, but they are dopes who don't understand the actual importance of free speech."

But I have a habit of interpreting things charitably.

[UnCivilServant]

"I can understand the attraction to an isolated echo chamber of fluffiness, but I still reject it"

[Fist of Etiquette]

While I understand the impulse to do it, hedging is not always a positive.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

I don't know, I read it as, "While I understand that you don't want people to say mean things to people, the Constitution protects the rights of everyone whether you agree with them or not." I imagine when my daughter's old enough to get things like the concept of law I'll probably explain the difference between wanting people to behave a certain way and forcing them to do so using the government in a similar way.

[Random Axe Of Kindness]

I'm an online student at UND- so I've gotten a bunch of emails about stuff that led up to this. Long story short, some girl left her cell phone in a dorm room, two white girls used the phone to snapchat selfie themselves with the phrase "locked that black bit*h out." That somehow turned into a huge uproar, with demands to expel the students, blah blah blah. He was in a fairly unenviable position of being shouted at by the SJW morons (redundant?), and wanting to, you know, keep his job. I was mostly annoyed by his emailed responses about "disgusting acts" or whatever, but I also don't know how he could've reacted differently and not been drummed out.

It's a long, long away from the world where you could write slurs on a passed out fraternity brother's forehead and the overall reaction was laughter.

[The Grinch]

Middle Tennessee State no safe space media spin-A bunch of redneck racists want to be free to insult minorities, women, and LGBTetceteras, truly a sad day for America.

[commodious pip pips, oh well]

These are welcome developments for free speech enthusiasts, although I don't think the tide is turning against safe spaces yet.

WHYCOME ROBBY HAFTER COUCH IN HIMS COSMO SKEPTICSISM

[SusanM]

TEH HOMOZ!!1!

The SGA did carve out one notable exception to its denunciation of safe spaces, specifically exempting the MTSU Safe Zone Program, which is meant to provide a supportive environment for LGBT+ students.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

God damn, man, you really don't fuck with the Velvet Mafia, do you?

[Krabappel]

I didn't need a god damned safe space during my time at bumfuck university.

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

The name of the university may explain why.

[Krabappel]

-_-

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

Sorry, I have a pathological need to ruin the punchline on occasion.

[Krabappel]

It was well played.

[Lorenzo Valla]

Kennedy missed a great opportunity by not replying with: "Jane Curtin, you ignorant slut..."

[Sevo]

It *is* Benioff, who is nothing if no oh, so correct, but imagine doing business under these conditions:

"Gender-aware Dreamforce badges let you pick your pronoun"
[...]
"Gender-aware Dreamforce badges let you pick your pronoun. Pick your pronoun on badges. ... The conversation stretched into the night, for hours after the first day of Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference came to a close. ...
http://www.sfgate.com/search/?.....dreamforce

Pay-walled, so you only get the tease. But you're not missing much; hand-wringing, pearl clutching, you can write it yourself.

[Krabappel]

I haven't gone for a few years - it got way too crowded and the hotels are unbelievably expensive, and uh, Union Square has a lot of SF's "interesting" characters hanging around outside everywhere.

[Sevo]

Uber was getting $130 for rides after the Bono concert, so, yeah, the hospitality bizz is getting healthy off that in a big way.

[Krabappel]

Eh, I would have skipped that one. The year I went, RHCP was playing and we just walked back in a big group though the throngs of homeless people.

[nqk65332]

when i looked at the figure of 14556 dollars .Than I have no other choice but to accept , what i saw .They have been doing this for a year and get rid of their debtts...... Yesterday they purchased new Aston Martin ............. http://www.GoldWAy4.com

[eubes]

Little did I know that a decade after taking this photograph that it'd grace the internet pages of this fine publication.