'All Lives Matter' gets Texas student suspended, sent to diversity workshop. Blake Neff, Daily Caller.
(From University of Houston Student Government Association President Shane Smith)
"The first amendment [sic] prevents a person from being jailed by the government for what they say. But [it] does not prevent people from receiving other consequences for what they say.”
Oh good Lord no.
And this is from the President of the SGA, someone who, most probably, is preparing himself for a career in government. And he doesn't even understand what the First Amendment is, what it does, or what all it protects.
Or even, apparently, why it is important.
Or, more importantly, what a public university is. He might also want to look up "banana republic" while he's at it, because the UofH SGA seems to be failing to understand why the rule of law is important, and why doling out punishment based on what the current SGA President "feels" about the entire thing sets a bad precedent. Do Universities even teach the rule of law any more, or why it's important?
It's pretty clear that they don't, at least not at UH.
Having an SGA that throws the tenets of good governance out the window to "set an example" (and, it should be noted, remove what they consider to be a stain on their character from their midst) is just another case of children throwing egg on their faces in an attempt to wash their hands.
They look worse now than they ever would have looked by allowing Rohini Sethi to go unpunished, and face the blowback of popular mood. Because suspending the body's constitution to grant the President "emergency powers" to punish someone according to his feels is a bad, bad idea.
It's an embarrassment to UH as a whole and it makes their SGA pretty much worthless. (if it wasn't already)
Were I a civics or political science professor at the University of Houston I don't think I'd advertise that fact right about now. Because one thing is for sure, they haven't been doing their jobs.
The ONLY thing in this that Shane Smith got right is this: Living in a country that (just) possesses the right to free speech also means that said speech comes with consequences. Like business decisions, those consequences are best left for market forces to decide.
There's one additional point to be made in this story about how we've all decided that any dismissal (no matter how slight) of our cause du jour is sufficient cause to spool up the outrage machine but I'm too sick of it all to make it.
UH should be embarrassed by this. But they won't be. Instead they'll learn all of the wrong lessons and those who are against freedom of thought will gain another ally in the war against dissent.
You've had a good run America.
