College Kids Not ‘Developed’ Enough for Free Speech Says US Civil Rights Commissioner
This is a follow up report on a story we brought you last week.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn writes at Campus Reform.
U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner: College kids not ‘developed’ enough for free speech
The U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner claims campus speech codes need to be tightened as college students are still “developing” and cannot yet handle certain information.
Speaking during a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) briefing on sexual harassment law in education, Democrat Michael Yaki likened restricting free speech on college campuses to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision to ban the death penalty for minors.
“Certain factors in how the juvenile or adolescent or young adult brain processes information is vastly different from the way that we adults do,” Yaki said according to a transcript from Eugene Volokh, a law professor and publisher of the blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, who also testified at the briefing. “So when we sit back and talk about what is right or wrong in terms of First Amendment jurisprudence from a reasonable person’s standpoint, we are really not looking into the same referential viewpoint of these people, of an adolescent or young adult, including those in universities.”
Yaki made these claims while questioning Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit organization advocating for civil liberties in higher education nationwide.
A spokesperson from FIRE declined to comment to Campus Reform as the USCCR has requested the organization wait to make any media comment until after the official transcript from the briefing is released.
“In the meantime, I would point you to the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which extended the franchise to 18-year-olds. FIRE has long argued that if college students can vote and can even be sent off to fight in wars, we must grant them full political rights—and that prominently includes their First Amendment rights,” Robert Shibley, senior vice president at FIRE, did tell Campus Reform.
U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner: College kids not ‘developed’ enough for free speech (Campus Reform)
Comments
There is always some patronizing, fake big shot that wants to control the debate.
I have a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old, so I am knee-deep in adolescent development, and I am well aware of the differences in their thinking and mine. They cannot learn to think for themselves, however, without actually doing some thinking on their own, and without solid information. On of the big battles I am fighting right now with the 17-year-old is how to figure out what information to trust.
Participation in the public debate is necessary for these kids to learn. Allowing some outside force to shape their discussions is going to teach them the wrong lessons.
“On of the big battles I am fighting right now with the 17-year-old is how to figure out what information to trust.”
and what information do you trust? in most cases we trust that information which conforms to the narrative we believe/want to believe/want to push, and we do this from day one of our lives until day last, with very little to no difference between children and adults in this regard.
having all of the extra available sources we have now doesn’t mean that there is a “truth” out there, it simply means there are more versions to choose from. in the past, there were fewer, controlled by fewer individuals with agendas to push. now there are more. if such a thing as “truth” exists, i’d love to examine the processes engaged in by those individuals who’ve found it, and of course, those “truths” they’ve uncovered.
Public ed has dumbed them down. There is no creativity or critical thinking allowed. The thought police will only tolerate the established point of view. So unless students follow the progressive rules for public speech, shut up.
So they are not developed enough to speak freely, but are developed enough to be sent into battle?
Shut the f up.
Yet these poor, undeveloped children are old enough to make an informed decision about voting for the president?