By Laura Elizabeth Morales
The university is thought to be the place for dialogue debate discussion and most importantly diversity. Yet administrations across the nation will stop at nothing to silence those they disagree with usually conservative students. While conservative speakers and students are shouted down and forced to find safe ground on campus by the left; those same individuals on the left constantly appeal to the belief of free speech acceptance tolerance and diversity.
A shining example of this behavior comes from the
Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) chapter at the University of Texas at Austin. In the spirit of diversity YCT set up a recruitment table across the street from the training to distribute flyers recruit new members and poke a little fun at the diversity training.
Suddenly we noticed two young male orientation leaders approaching us…they proceeded to engage us by immediately telling us we could not be there passing out flyers" said Brianna Becker UT student and Vice Chairman of Chapter Development.
The
UT Austin students asked to see a student handbook so that they could conclude whether or not they were in violation of any university rules but such a thoughtful and polite discussion was not on the agenda for the male orientation leaders. Instead in the spirit of diversity the orientation leaders confiscated flyers from the students. Then things took a turn for the worse.
An orientation leader stretched out his arm clutching the severed leg of a table to create a physical barrier from the four of us and the steady stream of students. We were perceived as a physical threat because we wished to offer an alternate conservative viewpoint to the new students of our University" explained Becker.
During my time as a campus activist at the University of Texas at San Antonio I saw my fair share of strange behaviors on campus from the left but the university and its staff always believed in the right to free speech no matter what students believed. In fact the orientation leaders asserted to the YCT chapter that they were passing flyers out in vain because no student would really want to read the conservative side of things.
The point we would like to make and that every proponent of free speech would agree on is that the particular message or effectiveness of the speech does not matter it is the speech itself which is intrinsically protected under the Constitution" said Becker.
The orientation leaders owe an apology not just to YCT but also to the UT Austin student body for hypocritically trampling on free speech rights. Worst of all this was at a diversity training event.
The UT Austin students asked to see a student handbook so that they could conclude whether or not they were in violation of any university rules but such a thoughtful and polite discussion was not on the agenda for the male orientation leaders. Instead in the spirit of diversity the orientation leaders confiscated flyers from the students. Then things took a turn for the worse.
An orientation leader stretched out his arm clutching the severed leg of a table to create a physical barrier from the four of us and the steady stream of students. We were perceived as a physical threat because we wished to offer an alternate conservative viewpoint to the new students of our University" explained Becker.
During my time as a campus activist at the University of Texas at San Antonio I saw my fair share of strange behaviors on campus from the left but the university and its staff always believed in the right to free speech no matter what students believed. In fact the orientation leaders asserted to the YCT chapter that they were passing flyers out in vain because no student would really want to read the conservative side of things.
The point we would like to make and that every proponent of free speech would agree on is that the particular message or effectiveness of the speech does not matter it is the speech itself which is intrinsically protected under the Constitution" said Becker.
The orientation leaders owe an apology not just to YCT but also to the UT Austin student body for hypocritically trampling on free speech rights. Worst of all this was at a diversity training event.
