The University of Wisconsin-Madison has instituted punishments for petulant crybullies who use their speech and, let’s not forget, other more violent actions to drown out the speech of others, according to The College Fix. If UW Madison protesters disrupt a speech once, I think they get a warning, but “The possible consequences if a student is found responsible for second violation of this policy during their enrollment is suspension for a minimum of one semester. Any student who has been responsible for a third disruption will be expelled.”
Good. We tried the olive branch with these guys, now it’s time to use the rod. I also really like how UW Madison specifically describes what constitutes disruptive behavior. For instance, noise that prevents speakers from being heard, pulling the fire alarm, as well as visual disruption like using signs to block people’s view and turning off lights.
It’s important to make policies that give as little wiggle room as possible. It shrinks student protesters’ chance at plausible deniability and makes it harder for administrators to gerrymander certain words and clauses to let students with the right politics — typically left-wing politics — off the hook.
Remember, we’re not really dealing with rational people here. This is the same university whose student government was trying to put up a plaque by the school’s statue of Abraham Lincoln, accusing him of playing a role in the killing of 38 innocent Native Americans. The UW Madison chancellor rejected this request, saying Lincoln only approved death sentences for Native Americans who raped or killed.
This is also the same school whose left-wing student groups eat up over $400,000 in mandatory student fees while conservative groups get just a tad over $10,000, the same school where 700 students and professors complained about racism when police arrested a student accused of posting graffiti all over campus, and the same school that held a “Problem of Whiteness” class.
So if you’re going to reach out to UW Madison, definitely give the school a pat on the back for this new policy. But you might also want to mention that when it comes to the insidious cancer that is social justice, speech disruptions seem to be the symptom, not the cause.
