N.C. State officials plan some modest changes to the campus Free Expression Tunnel - as well as some greater efforts to educate students on racial issues - following the November discovery of racist writings on the tunnel wall.
As the News & Observer's Jay Price reports today, NCSU Chancellor James Oblinger has accepted all of a task force's recommendations to improve the campus culture.
The incident, in which writings threatening then presidential candidate Barack Obama were discovered, prompted the university system to consider a policy on hate crimes for all public university campuses.
Comments
Somebody have the balls to end political-correctness!
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 13:58 — DeaconPeachAnything touched by UNC is going to smack of political-correctness & leftwing liberalism. Diversity training & hate crime policies have no place in a university setting. After all, isn't the role of a university to teach students TO think, not HOW to think?
First Oblinger embraces athletic mediocrity by retaining Lee Fowler, now he espouses the same unnecessary political-correctness as practiced in Chapel Hill. NC State is doomed.
Racism is still free expression
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 09:51 — ChopperCharlesLike it or not, it's called the "Free Expression" tunnel for a reason. The remarks written there were protected by the first amendment. No matter how much we may dislike the words and ideas put to wall with paint, ideas and words are not illegal. No "Hate Crime" was committed, because no crime was committed. At least, it's not a crime yet. Policing thought, making ideas and the expression of unpopular ideas crimes is not the American Way. It's the Orwellian Way, and that is a line we should, as a nation, be very wary of crossing.
Beatrice Hall summed up the American Way rather succinctly: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It would do us all well to remember these words.
Charles Smith
Durham, NC
Hate Speech = Free Expression?
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 10:26 — FurbishLousewartThere have been lengthy arguments over whether hate speech is considered the same thing as free expression since this incident. It's definitely a grey area, not a fine line.
I don't really have a stance one way or the other, but I will say this: the right to yell "Fire!" in a publicly crowded place is not protected under the First Amendment. If it endangers others, you don't have the right to say it. I'm not saying hate speech does this, I'm just saying the First Amendment isn't all-encompassing.