Silence U: Did University Lawsuit Threat Close 'Indoctrinate U' Site?

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Is the maker of “Indoctrinate U“ being sued by “a major taxpayer-funded university?” A November 12 message at filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney's personal site Brain-Terminal.com states just that:

Due to a threatened lawsuit from a major taxpayer-funded university, the Indoctrinate U homepage has been taken down temporarily. On The Fence Films LLC is deciding how best to proceed, and we will not be commenting on anything until after our final response has been executed.

Don’t worry, though, this will not derail the film.

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Hopefuly this will be resolved soon, and this legal threat won't affect the film's local screenings and future downloads or DVD sales.

Maloney's “Indoctrinate U” addresses the worrisome campus trend of ideologically-driven speech codes and stifling political correctness in America's colleges and universities, but apparently even this one film is too much for academia.

The film documents several cases of students caught in the cross hairs of campus speech cops. Maloney describes how the university responded to a student who posted a flyer promoting an upcoming speech for Mason Weaver, a “black conservative author who wrote a book on economic empowerment called 'It's OK to Leave the Plantation' " (article about incident):

[The student] had the police called on him, he was ordered to see a psychologist, he was questioned by an attorney without being allowed to have one of his own, he was threatened with expulsion, and he was “convicted” by the university for an offense that they couldn’t even define when asked.

...[The flyer] merely had a picture of him, the title of his book, and the date, time and location of the event. Yet university regarded the flyers as “literature of an offensive racial nature,” and used it to railroad a student whose views they didn’t like. This case lasted 18 months and ended up in federal court before the student finally prevailed (bold mine throughout).

True stories like this pepper “Indoctrinate U,” along with Michael Moore-style segments and interviews on various college campuses. However, one of these universities does not like the spotlight and is apparently threatening to sue.

What happened to universities being the "real" defenders of free speech? Ah, right-- "hate speech is not free speech.” That's the Clinton-esque word game academics use to avoid giving speech they disagree with the same rights as the speech they revere.

“Indoctrinate U” shows university professors and administrators upholding policy that some speech is more equal than others. Don't they read the classics in colleges anymore?

 

 

**Thanks to NB reader Acumen who came up with the perfect title "Silence: U"

Lynn contributes to NewsBusters and can be reached with tips or even complaints at tvisgoodforyou2 AT yahoo DOT com


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Life imitating art? I

Life imitating art?

I hope they put this little event in the movie too.

"Boats are safe in the harbor, but that's not what they're made for." -- Maritime quote

Hope the site gets back

Hope the site gets back online soon enough, Evan! I look forward to the screening when it finally comes to Denver! The CSU CR's are having a big film night get together by watching your movie.

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy

What would Micheal Moore do

What would Micheal Moore do (along with his sycophantic MSM)

I can just see the barrage of 24/7 year long coverage of this incident if conservatives ran this U instead and Mikey had made the documentary...

Nobel Laureate Micheal Moore, ladies and gentleman....

The Sequel - Silence U.

 This would be an excellent opportunity for our liberal friends on NB to lecture us again on the brazen stifling of free speech in America under the Bush administration.

“If Hitler were in the United States and wanted a platform from which to speak, he would have plenty of platforms to speak in the United States. If he were willing to engage in a debate and discussion, and be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him.” - John Coatsworth dean of the School of International and Public Affairs Columbia University

I liked the name "SIlence: U" so much I that I stole it

I liked the name "Silence: U" so much that I stole it and rewrote the original title of the post.

I'm a polite thief though; I gave you credit. It really is a perfect new name. I wouldn't be surprised to see others use it too.

Lynn Davidson 

 

Thanks again Lynn

I encourage this kind of thievery and gratefully offer Silence U to Evan as a possible follow-up documentary title to Indoctrinate U if he so desires.  I'm confident that I wasn't the first to entertain that title when this story broke, just fortunate to post it here.

As I stated in my email to you Lynn, thanks go to you and all the other fine contributors to this site for offering such thought-provoking material.

I frequent Evan's Brain Terminal site which I have had in my browser favorites for quite some time and encourage everyone to support his fair and balanced blog along of course with his release of Indoctrinate U.  Unfortunately, his work is a necessity in our PC obsessed world and I'm grateful for his many sacrifices in getting the message out about the bias at our nation's colleges and universities.

Where is the ACLU now?

Arent they suppose to be the defenders of free speech?

Pressure

Anybody know what University is trying to push the
Indoctrinate U people around.
Maybe we can return the favor and give them a little
pressure of our own.

The Larry Pratt article rocks

Thanks for linking to it. GOA is much-needed these days to counter the inside the beltway "big government in small government disguise" crowd. I hope a copy of the actual threat gets posted online soon.
JMR

Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.

ACLU?

Is the ACLU involved in any of this?

If so, with the same vigor as when they go after such national civil crisis such as nativity scenes?

FREE SPEECH...

 Here is what people need to know about the politics of free speech, while right wingers might complain more about speech they don't care for, it will ALWAYS be the leftists who will try to legislate against speech they deem offensive.

 

"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise"  Mark Levin

Amazing

Free speech is apparently only upheld if it's some kook from the far left.

Now if the Indoctrinate U website had any of the following: "Jesus in urine, poems about how our troops are baby killers, essays on how the patriot act is causing global warming, powerpoint presentations on the "real cause of 9/11..." then the web page would be up and running.

However, due to the fact that so called "open minded" and "intelectually superior" professors didn't like that they were exposed for the frauds they are; free speech meets it's limit.

The time will come when we will need to grab the torches and pitchforks and storm the ivory towers.   

 

Oh, believe me, there are other attacks on speech.

See this as an example. Now, instead of having 400 "illegal" medallions that promote the candidate of my choice, I get to support yet-another big government lawyer-welfare program.
JMR

Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.

I am surprised...

...that no one has pointed out that Indiana University is the likely offended party since the emblem they use on all their apparel is identical to that of Indoctrinate U.

Indiana has bigger problems

Indiana has bigger problems to worry about besides free speech. If they're so PC, they should change their name of the university to something less offensive, because INDIANa could be seen as offensive to Indians/Native Americans/First Americans/whatever.

Just a thought.

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy