Red Alert Politics provides a few recent examples.

Campus free speech crackdowns and court rulings

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) recently filed a lawsuit against the administration of California State University-Los Angeles because of an apparent disregard for First Amendment rights. The suit, filed on the behalf of the conservative student group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, targets President William Covino and professors on the campus for unconstitutionally blocking their right to free speech.

The Christian Times reports that the suit, which was filed on May 23, was a response to a YAF-sponsored event that Shapiro was scheduled to speak at in late February of this year. What was meant to be a guest lecture was met with massive protests and people blocking the entrance to the auditorium where the event was taking place. Shapiro needed a security escort to get through the crowds of protesting students, staff, faculty, and random bystanders.

His crime? Challenging the ideas of diversity in higher education with his presentation series, “When Diversity Becomes a Problem.”

The Cal State incident is one of the most recent examples of stifled free speech on university campuses across the United States. What the university community touts as a long-held respect for freedom of thought has become a challenge to the dominant point of view, progressive policy, and diversity.

In April, Gallup concluded that over half of the 3,000 college students surveyed wanted to restrict specific components of free speech. 69 percent of respondents supported disciplinary action against both students and faculty members who use “microaggressions” — a category of speech that is viewed to some as racist, sexist, and even homophobic in some instances. As The Atlantic characterized the study, “[students] say the First Amendment is outdated.”

Consequently, there has been a rise of incidents that have suggested that free speech is a thing of the past. The whole paradigm of such rights is at war with the liberal agenda of limiting speech to protect “disenfranchised groups” of people.