Michigan Lawsuit Targets “Bias Response Team” That Threatens Free Speech

[Swordsmyth]

The organization Speech First has filed for an injunction against UM President Mark Schlissel, declaring that he and the university have “created an elaborate investigatory and disciplinary apparatus to suppress and punish speech other students deem ‘demeaning,’ ‘bothersome,’ or ‘hurtful.’”
From the complaint: “The University’s disciplinary code prohibits ‘harassment’ and ‘bullying’ and further increases the potential penalties if such actions were motivated by ‘bias.’ All of those concepts, as the University interprets and applies them, can capture staggering amounts of protected speech and expression.”
In 2016, after the election of Donald Trump, Schlissel told a gathering of upset students who voted for Hillary that they had rejected hate. “Ninety percent of you rejected the kind of hate and fractiousness and the longing for some sort of idealized version of a non-existent yesterday,” Schlissel told the group. By implying that 10 percent voted for “hate and fractiousness,” isn’t Schlissel being “hateful” and “hurtful” to a minority group?
Founded by free-speech advocate Nicole Neily, Speech First is an organization concerned with not only responding to violations of the First Amendment on campuses, but aggressively fighting policies that encourage those violations. The organization looks to smash the speech-code culture that has developed on America’s college campuses. And the organization has their work cut out for them.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is a free-speech watchdog group that documents the many violations of the First Amendment on college campuses. The group uses a stoplight rating system, with “green” meaning that there is no serious suppression of free speech, “yellow” meaning that the institution bears watching, and “red” meaning that free speech is in definite jeopardy on a campus. In 2018, 32.3 percent of public universities received a “red” rating from FIRE. The University of Michigan is rated “red.”
“They (Michigan) have a red speech code, unfortunately,” Neily told NRA TV recently. “It discourages bullying and harassment but it doesn’t define what that is, so it ends up being very much in the eye of the beholder. And, unfortunately, you end up catching a lot of protected, First Amendment speech then and that’s no good. That’s when we have to spring into action and protect our members’ rights,” she continued.

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnew...ns-free-speech

[timosman]

Bias Response Teams are fundamentally un-American http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ly-un-American