When did America become a nanny state, where everyone has to feel loved by all they come in contact with?
Where anyone who disagrees with us is considered ‘treasonous’?

I don’t know.

But I thought conservatives were the tough guys of politics; I would think they could deal with professors that openly disagreed with them. Apparently, as Patrick Callahan proved (“Tenured Professors Pollute Us With Liberalism,” Daily Nexus, March 1), they can’t.

That’s about all he proved.

First, his base argument is that the First Amendment doesn’t cover university speech, as the text reads: “Congress shall make no law…” However, read that same way, the state could make laws against free speech, the city could make such laws, the fucking dogcatcher could tell us what to say.

Now, let’s look at which schools were too liberal for one conservative’s taste: University of Colorado, University of California and University of Louisville – all of which are public schools, all protected by the constitution.

This, of course, is a legalistic standpoint. Really, if you’re 18 and you can’t think for yourself and you let your professors make up your mind for you: leave. Just go. Get out of my fucking school, because you don’t belong here. This is a place for adults, not tall children. I understand that many of us, including myself, don’t know who we are right now, or what we believe in; that’s fine. But if you can’t figure that out without being told what it is, then you don’t belong at a university.

Continuing on, then.

In a remarkable display of parallel structure, Mr. Callahan goes on to list three professors that have been punished for exercising their freedom of speech – after, of course, admonishing other professors to stop exercising theirs. The schools: Duke and John Hopkins, two private schools, and University of North Carolina, a public school. The first two are for-profit institutions; they can do whatever the hell they want, and conservatives should be more than happy with anything that makes money.

UNC has a remarkably abhorrent reputation lately for abridging free speech, one point I agree with Mr. Callahan on – sort of. I mean, he complains about professors speaking freely, and then about professors being punished for speaking freely; what’s it going to be?

You can’t have both.

Anyway, I consider UNC an oddball; I can’t find professors being suspended in other public schools. His example, Michael Adams, doesn’t even mention his suspension in his articles, and I can’t find mention of it online. Besides, Mr. Adams would disagree with everything else Mr. Callahan said. I read his articles regularly, and Mr. Adams believes tenure is evil because it creates social lepers and stifles productivity, not because it allows free speech. After drawing up an ironic plan to make the faculty at UNC ‘comfortable’ by removing free speech, he said, “Free speech will die here at our local university. But at least everyone will feel comfortable at all times. I guess that’s all that really matters.”

Sarcasm at its finest, my friends.

It seems to me conservatives complain about the free speech exercised by professors due to its content, but is that all that really matters? Is comfort all we want out of our university?

If you think it is, fuck you.

Colin Whiting is a junior geography major.

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