By Kevin Hart, Publisher
If there’s anyone in the DePaul University administration with half a brain (and that’s become highly debatable), they’ll have the school’s library on 24-hour watch.
Because if campus liberals have their way, they’ll burn half the books in there.
A group of leftist crybaby students recently continued their campaign to suppress free speech and open dialogue on college campuses. They effectively stopped conservative commentator Ben Shapiro (a former editor at Breitbart and current editor at The Daily Wire) from giving a speech at DePaul.
Last week, DePaul’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter received a letter from a university administrator saying Shapiro wouldn’t be allowed to give his planned address. The letter cited “security concerns” and the “experiences” at previous campuses where Shapiro had spoken (more on that in a minute).
You read that right. A school that bills itself as the “nation’s largest Catholic University” — that is, in fact, run by a Catholic priest — has actually banned a conservative speaker from appearing.
If that isn’t political correctness run amok… if that isn’t enough to have the Vincentian monks and priests who founded DePaul spinning in their graves… I don’t know what is.
And, unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that DePaul has given in to mob rule. Just a couple months ago, Breitbart journalist Milo Yiannapoulos’ speech at DePaul had to be cut short after a troop of Black Lives Matter protesters stormed the stage and threatened him.
Make no mistake about it. This is the liberal vision of America — a place where dissenting opinions are harshly silenced by gangs of closed-minded buffoons. And, too often, especially where college campuses are concerned, they’re getting away with it.
It doesn’t matter if you agree with Ben Shapiro’s politics. He’s smart enough to understand that many people don’t.
But the fact is, he’s an American success story with knowledge that would greatly benefit college-aged students — if they’d only stop to listen.
At only 32 years old, Shapiro has graduated from Harvard Law School, written six books, and reached tens of millions of people worldwide through his websites and media appearances.
He’s in a unique position to deliver a young person’s perspective on politics, the law, entrepreneurship, and, at a college like DePaul (where only about half of students graduate after four years), academic success.
And the problems that have occurred at previous Shapiro appearances at college campuses were certainly not his doing. He’s had protesters block doors and even trigger fire alarms (you can see the video below) to make sure he couldn’t be heard.
https://youtu.be/1q9I4IRijpU
Now, of course, these same protesters will crow loudly about their freedoms to express themselves and assemble. But what they fail to understand is that conservatives like Shapiro (and the students who support him) have First Amendment rights, too — and, in fact, the First Amendment exists to encourage the dissemination of dissenting opinions.
That exchange of ideas isn’t just a fundamental American principle — it should also be the essence of a good college education.
Now some would argue that DePaul, as a private university, is free to accept or reject speakers as it wishes. But that’s utter nonsense.
As long as DePaul continues to rake in tens of millions of dollars in federally subsidized student loans — underwritten by the American taxpayer — there’s nothing truly private about it.
This isn’t a problem without solutions. In fact, the answers are remarkably simple
In a perfect world, students would be mature enough to listen to opinions that they may not agree with. Barring that, if you don’t want to be exposed to conservative ideology, maybe you shouldn’t enroll in a Catholic or other Christian university.
Believe me, there are plenty of other schools willing to take $50,000 a year off your hands for a 50-50 chance you’ll graduate after four years.
In addition, universities that are regularly interfering with the practice of free speech should have their access to federal funds reviewed. It shouldn’t be the role of the federal government to underwrite specific, preferred political ideologies.
And, finally, universities should have codes of conduct that discipline students who interfere with their classmates’ rights to engage in free speech. We know that institutions of higher learning have great latitude in drafting these codes, and many already have language preventing other types of discrimination. This would be a natural extension.
Today’s college students need to learn that plugging your ears and shouting down your opponents doesn’t make you right — or your opponents wrong. But that lesson will only be learned if adults have the backbones to stand up to these student mobs.
And, unfortunately, at many colleges like DePaul, that leadership is badly lacking.
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