On May 22 of 2009, the Liberty University College Democrats were widely reported to have been shut down by the school’s administration. These reports came across a broad spectrum of media – a search of LexisNexis for the terms “College Democrats” and “Liberty University” from May 20 through today turns up 72 results. Among these results are 35 newspaper articles (among them, the Washington Post and L.A. Times),13 newswires or press releases (including one from the Associated Press), and even two mentions on MSNBC, a 24-hour cable news network.
Ratings aside, a local college club getting face time on a cable news network is quite a feat.
On June 4, 2009, FoxNews.com reported that a nascent Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) was banned from administration approval at a community college in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
According to LexisNexis, FoxNews.com is the only news entity to report on this so far.
According to the article:
[Christine] Brashier maintains she was hauled into a meeting with the dean, who told her "that the club would never be approved, that the school did not wish to discuss the topic, and to cease speaking about it as well as destroy the literature."
For those readers keeping score at home, the administration in question has first banned its students from speaking about an issue relevant to their interests. Second, the club itself was banned; Brashier was told that the club itself would not ever be approved. There was apparently no discussion of the merits of the idea behind the club. In fact, the leader of this nascent group was told that there would be no discussion at all.
In short, the administration favors talking only about those things it deems to be worthwhile – and that does not include discussion of the philosophical concepts of the right to self-defense, the possibility that individual adults could possibly do a better job of protecting themselves than a police containment squad, or the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Or, for that matter, the First Amendment to the Constitution.
While there’s still time for other media to notice, I’m not holding my breath. A public community college’s abridgment of free speech free speech is not nearly as fascinating or as aligned with the liberal media’s preferred memes as a conservative, Christian college barring College Democrats from supporting pro-choice politicians in their party with the school’s blessing.
Many thanks to the mainstream media for being so clear on that.
