Intercept - One of the most dangerous threats to campus free speech has been emerging at the highest levels of the University of California system, the sprawling collection of 10 campuses which includes UCLA and UC Berkeley. The University’s governing Board of Regents, with the support of University President Janet Napolitano and egged on by the state’s legislature, has been attempting to adopt new speech codes that – in the name of combating “anti-Semitism” – would formally ban various forms of Israel criticism and anti-Israel activism.
Under the most stringent such regulations, students found to be in violation of these codes would face suspension or expulsion. In July, it appeared that the Regents were poised to enact the most extreme version, but decided instead to push the decision off until September, when they instead would adopt non-binding guidelines to define “hate speech” and “intolerance.”
One of the Regents most vocally advocating for the most stringent version of the speech code is Richard Blum, the multi-millionaire defense contractor who is married to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. At a Regents meeting last week, reported The Los Angeles Times, Blum expressly threatened that Feinstein would publicly denounce the University if it failed to adopt far more stringent standards than the ones it appeared to be considering, and specifically demanded they be binding and contain punishments for students found to be in violation.
3 comments:
Unquestioning obedience to any ideology always leads to bad consequences. Suppression of free speech is not among the least of those evils, but it rates up there. In the 1950's, under Ben Gurion, Zionism was regarded as a Socialist ideology; now it is clearly extreme right wing. Most of its American adherents would be horrified to know how it was viewed in the 1930's, before WII by even loyal supporters. Progressive journalist Carey McWilliams wrote an article about this in an article, but he was not alone. Enough said; do your homework.
Creatures like Feinstein, Netanyahu, et al. create Jew-hatred where none existed.
It's funny, how stupid the powerful often are. It confirms Paul Hawken's and Robert Winter-Berger's assessments that, while they try hard to intimidate us with their big limos, expensive clothes, and excessive wealth, in actual ability most are just mediocre, and in real (as opposed to public) personality, deficient.
So if I got this right Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, Democrat, and her husband support Israel at any cost, don't want students to be able to speak up against Israel and support the Apartheid policy's of Israel. Way to go Feinstein!
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