Again, liberalism at its finest. Free speech only applies if you speak what the liberals want you to speak. Talk about things that 'insult' them, or hurt their widdle feelings, then you of course better shut up. I watched some of the local coverage of this event on TV, and pretty much laughed my ass off watching some of the little wanabe hippie freaks on campus whine about how it's not fair to protest the immigration policies of the US, as it was considered "hate speech".
Just to make sure I got this right - hate speech is when you protest the flood of, and here's the key word dear readers - ILLEGAL immigration.
Read and enjoy from the Denton newspaper. (registration required, which is why I've just pasted the whole thing here)
Students: UNT should not have allowed ‘Capture an Illegal Immigrant Day’
07:23 AM CST on Tuesday, February 1, 2005
By Josh Baugh / Staff Writer
Scores of Latino students from the University of North Texas lambasted their school Monday for allowing a political demonstration that they say amounted to hate speech and called for more stringent restrictions in the campus’ several "free speech" zones.
Latino students and organizations from UNT and other area universities, along with several representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens gathered to discuss "Capture an Illegal Immigrant Day," held on Wednesday by UNT’s chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas.
"I’m all for freedom of speech," one student said. "But we were offended by the way they conveyed their message."
Pricila Cardenas, president of LULAC at UNT, said the marginalization of illegal immigrants was demeaning and offensive.
"It was not a joke. It was not a game," she said. "If it’s going to offend and hurt people, something should be done."
Several students said in the meeting that UNT’s Dean of Students office shouldn’t have allowed the conservative group access to the free speech zone because of the harmful nature of its demonstration, in which members of the Young Conservatives wore bright orange shirts that read "Illegal Immigrant" on the front and "Catch me if U can" on the back. Passersby could check in at the group’s table, receive a badge and go find the "illegal immigrants." Captures were rewarded with 100 Grand candy bars. The Young Conservatives also handed out literature it says accurately outlines problems with illegal immigration, though many Latino students said it was false and "misinformation."
Dean Ken Ballom said the university does not grant or deny access to the free speech zones based on content.
"I would say all [applications] are granted and basically what we try to do is review to see if there is a health or safety risk, and if the space is available," he said. "No decisions are made based upon the content of the speech."
Students took turns passionately speaking about the pain and humiliation they felt at the hands of the Young Conservatives and calling for action. Some demanded a public apology for the group’s actions.
But Chris Brown, the group’s president, offered none.
"We do feel like our event was not taken as we thought it would have been. We did not want to offend anyone, but it was a side effect," he said to the crowd. "We do not apologize for what we did."
After dozens of students traded ideas of adding constraints to the free speech zones to protect others from the pain they say they suffered last week, UNT professor Abraham Benavides implored the students to move forward and embrace the positive elements that have arisen from the incident.
"I appreciated the emotion that is in this room, but I don’t think we should go down this road," he said. "To say that we don’t want free speech is not a good idea. Someday, you’ll want to have your free speech protected too."
He pointed out that during his time at UNT, he has never seen the unity of the Latino community that he saw Monday night.
"Don’t stop the dialogue," he told them. "Don’t concentrate on the negative."
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