Protestors' Rights Quotes

In some universities would sometimes protest the selection of a commencement speaker and demonstrate. On some of these occasions the school administration withdrew the invitation. In addition to the problem described by Beckel, the university sells out its basic intellectual commitment to hear all ideas and points of view—regardless of how repugnant or evil. Commencement speakers tend to create a bigger problem because of the custom of the university granting the speaker an Honorary Degree. Whereas it is against the academic tradition to censor a speaker and having a speaker does NOT associate the University, the faculty or the students with the views of the speaker. But the granting of the Honorary Degree does imply an institutional approval and admiration of the speaker, and that is fair game for student protest. However in the beginning of the 21st century some extreme left wing students succeeded in intimidating spineless university administrators and trustees into censoring speech and the ideas of the speaker. This was typical behavior of the right wing brownshirts of the 1930s when it was the Fascists who were prohibiting certain speakers—usually left wingers. 80 years later it was the left wing extremists engaging in this undemocratic behavior.

The major police union in NYC. The Mayor had run on a campaign of police reform with Lynch one of his most virulent political enemies. The killer who came to New York was very disturbed over the spate of police killings of unarmed Black boys and young men for which there were no indictments or other actions of accountability. One of these was a homicide committed by a New York police officer who, against Police regulations used a choke hold on victim while 4 other officers were restraint him as he choked to death. There were no charges files, even after the coroner had declared the death a homicide. There were major demonstrations and protests in New York and elsewhere and the Mayor had defended the right of citizens to peacefully protest, Lynch’s “logic” was that the mayor’s softness against demonstrations against the police encouraged the Baltimore man to come to New York and murder the 2 police officers. The Mayors clear and unmistakable disapproval of the violence against police {642497} somehow was taken as the opposite by Lynch and other New York police officers.