If It's On Campus, It's Not Hate-Speech

"One person’s hate speech is another person’s education"
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez, University of California, Irvine

It's not clear if Mr. Gomez would make that required or an elective.

Here's the story:

More than a dozen Jewish student leaders met with Chancellor Michael Drake and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez on Wednesday, October 18 to discuss the recent anti-Semitic vandalism here amidst a broader discussion about how Jewish students feel they are treated.

...Many Jewish students at the meeting blamed the Muslim Student Union for creating an environment in which hate speech can prosper, which they felt had a direct connection to the vandalism.

Chancellor Drake on the other hand condemned hate-speech and "also asserted that hateful speech does absolutely nothing to promote understanding and tolerance"--which puts the chancellor on a different approach than his vice chancellor.

Instead, he took the approach that his hands were tied because it would be a "violation of law to prohibit certain speech," and that

it is not in the power of the University of California to prohibit speech on campus in any fashion because it would be against the constitutional rights of individuals.

The obvious question is whether Chancellor Drake and Vice Chancellor Gomez would have felt the same if the victims were African American...or Muslim.

Jonah Goldberg makes that point, but also suggests that on campus a line should be drawn

I generally agree with the notion that "hate" speech should not be banned by the government. I have less of a problem with universities and colleges curtailing such things within the boundaries of good taste and good character development.

Considering what both the faculty (link expired: check here instead) and the students get away with at Columbia University, it appears that there may be a trend on university campuses that the pedagogic benefits of hate-speech outweigh the teaching of character.

Technorati Tag: Moslems and Hate-Speech and Muslim Student Union.