Universities are frequently hostile to free speech because they are run by Leftists hostile to liberty. The Left has always been hostile to the Enlightenment.
THE NEW BROWNSHIRTS: THUGS VS. FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS
The future for free expression in the West is looking bleak.
Leftist students routinely intimidate and even physically menace those who dissent from their views, especially pro-Israel students. Conservative speakers are rarely invited to campuses, and when they are, face legions of hostile and even violent protesters. Universities are increasingly hostile to conservative views, and are mostly indoctrination centers for the hard Left. This is academia today, as I detail in my new book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies).
On September 29, 2016, retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel and former Congressman Allen West was scheduled to speak at Saint Louis University (SLU) on what he termed “the threat of radical Islam.” A group of Leftist and Muslim student protesters, led by the SLU Rainbow Alliance and the Muslim Students’ Association, packed the hall and then walked out, leaving West to speak to a nearly empty room.
That was the culmination of protests that had led SLU administrators to forbid the Young America’s Foundation (YAF), the organization sponsoring West’s speech, to use the words “radical Islam” on posters and fliers advertising it. West, not disposed to acquiesce to this censorship, had written before the event, “I along with the YAF activists will not back down from this challenge. And if this is just a case of ill-conceived political correctness, we’ll rectify that. But, if this is a case of the influence of stealth jihad radical Islamic campus organizations such as the Muslim Student Association, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, then you will be exposed. And I recommend to the President of St. Louis University, you do not want it known that a radical Islamic organization is dictating speakers on your campus—that is not the type of PR you really want.”
But rather than affirming the importance of free discourse and the airing of dissenting views (never mind rejecting jihad and Islamic supremacism), SLU President Fred Pestello declared his “solidarity” with the protesters against the “provocateur” West.
