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If youve been reading Binghamton Review headlines, youll know that crazed leftists have been preventing conservative students from expressing their right to free speech by forming a leftist mob. However, if you look a little closer at the real story, youll recognize the headlines and statements for what they are: an attempt to spin events in conservatives favor.

On Nov. 18, protesters shut down an event hosted by Binghamton University College Republicans and Young Americas Foundation, who invited Arthur Laffer to speak on campus. If youre familiar with Laffer, the most recent target of the crazed leftists, you may know that he was a key adviser to former President Ronald Reagan and an architect of the explosion in inequality that transpired under that administration. Does that sound like someone whos at risk of having their free speech taken away by college students? Am I expected to believe that my freedoms, security and comfort are under threat from college protesters, and powerful and wealthy men like Laffer are my allies in this fight for free speech? I feel insulted by the suggestion that this could be true.

Freedom of speech, an inviolable principle of political democracy, has been turned into a political bludgeon by the political right. There is not a single student or student organization on campus that has the power to threaten the freedom of speech of someone like Laffer. Freedom of speech exists so that people like Laffer can be held accountable, not so that they can endlessly run the university lecture circuit. I was under the impression that student protest was considered a component of freedom of speech, and not evidence of crazed leftism.

When students yell, lack civility or use politically polarizing language, are they not exercising their right to freedom of speech? We may disagree politically and on what manner of action is appropriate to voice our views, but this disagreement is not one around the freedom of speech. Progressive student organizations on campus have their political views and goals, and clearly so do Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and College Republicans. Are we supposed to pretend these arguments will never result in protests, angry yelling or confrontation?

While the average BU student enjoys a relatively privileged lifestyle, it is important to remember that political decisions affect peoples lives. People like Laffer helped construct policies that hurt workers, while their superiors like Reagan went on racist rants behind closed doors. When Reagan dealt a death blow to the power of organized labor in America, the right did not protest the repression of their freedom of speech or right to strike. Rather, they celebrated the accomplishment of their political goal. When you choose to agitate for your political views, when you choose to bring archconservatives to campus, you have entered the sphere of public debate. I think that TPUSA and College Republicans should be allowed to say what they say. But I think if politics is to be understood as the serious matter it is, then rhetorical tricks using free speech as a bludgeon against crazed leftists should be off the table. Calling organized students mobs also strikes me as a deeply anti-democratic sentiment. If students of color, LGBTQ students and their allies see a reason to yell and protest, people should listen. Disagreement is a natural fact of political life and is protected by freedom of speech which is exactly what protesting students were exercising.

John-Paul Keblinski is a junior double-majoring in sociology and geography.

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BU protesters were exercising their First Amendment rights - Binghamton University Pipe Dream

A conservative Indiana University professor drew scathing condemnation from school officials after sharing an article that states women are too emotional for academia. Now faced with mounting calls for his resignation, the universitys leadership says hes protected by the first amendment despite peddling racist, sexist and homophobic views on social media.

The university was forced to respond to concerns about Eric Rasmusen,a tenured professor of business and economics at Indianas Kelley School of Business, after he tweeted an article earlier this month titled: Are Women Destroying Academia? Probably. The 1,500-word essay was published 2 November in The Unz Review, a website that claims to spotlight interesting, important and controversial perspectives rarely published in conventional media outlets.

In his post, Mr Rasmusen pulled a line from the article that said: Geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine outlier high IQ with moderately low agreeableness and moderately low conscientiousness.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The tweet drew hundreds of replies by Wednesday night, including a viral Monday afternoon response from Hoosier alumna Maggie Hopkins.

This article suggests there should be far fewer women at universities. I am deeply offended by this tweet, and my ability to feel that offence does not diminish my intellect, Ms Hopkins, who said she had with Mr Rasmusen on the Indiana University Bloomington Faculty Council, wrote.

Indian paramilitary soldiers detain a Congress party supporter during a protest against the withdrawal of Special Protection Group (SPG) cover to party president Sonia Gandhi, her children and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delh. The move to lift off the SPG security, an elite force that protects prime ministers and their immediate families, led to sharp reactions from the Congress, which accused the government of personal vendetta

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A species of deer thought to be extinct, the chevrotain, has been spotted for the first time in 30 years in the wilds of Vietnam. The deer is around the size of a domestic cat

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Kyodo News via AP

People knock over a mock-up of the former Berlin Wall during a performance prior to the German first division Bundesliga football match Hertha BSC Berlin v RB Leipzig on the 30 anniversary of the fall off the wall

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Flames from an out of control bushfire from a nearby residential area in Harrington, northeast of Sydney. Australian firefighters warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they struggled to contain dozens of out-of-control bushfires across the east of the country

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Demonstrators shine lasers during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, the capital

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Activists from India's main opposition Congress party shout slogans as they are stopped by police during a protest against what the activists say is economic slowdown in the country, in Guwahati, India

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Smoke rises from a fire in downtown Lagos, Nigeria. Firefighters worked hard to try and extinguish a fire at the Balogun market. Thick black smoke and flames shot from the five-story buildings as fire trucks attempted to get access

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Women run down a sand dune as they take part in the desert trek "Rose Trip Maroc" in the erg Chebbi near Merzouga. It is a female-oriented trek where teams of three must travel through the southern Moroccan Sahara desert with a compass, a map and a topographical reporter

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Riot police descend an escalator inside the City Plaza mall in Hong Kong after a bloody knife fight wounded six people there. A local pro-democracy politician had his ear bitten off during another chaotic day of political unrest in the city

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People participate in the celebration of the 'muerteadas de Jalapa del Valle', as part of the Day of the Dead in Mexico

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Firefighters work to control flames from a backfire during the Maria fire in Santa Paula, California

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A model presents a creation at the show Heaven Gaia by Xiong Ying during the China Fashion Week in Beijing. The fashion event runs from 25 October to 2 November

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Authorities investigate after a Port Authority bus was caught in a sinkhole in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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Participants from Thailand pose in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall as they take part in the annual gay pride parade in Taipei. Some two hundred thousand revellers marched through Taipei in a riot of rainbow colours and celebration as Taiwan held its first pride parade since making history in Asia by legalising gay marriage

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University professor with sexist and racist views cannot be fired due to first amendment - The Independent

Columbia Daily Tribune

MondayNov18,2019at3:03PMNov18,2019at4:12PM

Nobel Prize winner and retired University of Missouri professor George Smith will discuss boycotts and the First Amendment in a talk at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Daniel Boone Regional Library Friends Room.

The event sponsored by the Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association is free and open to the public.

Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress and in the Missouri General Assembly to outlaw the use of boycotts against Israel. A boycott, divest and sanction movement against Israel for its treatment of Palestinians has gained traction among some groups and people.

The Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association doesn't take a position on the BDS movement, but resists any effort to limit the First Amendment rights of Americans to take part in the activities, according to a news release.

George Smith shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2018.

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Nobel laureate Smith to speak on boycotts and First Amendment - Boonville Daily News

An article in the Nov. 13 Chronicle reports that four students at Bozeman High School objected to the status of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) club as an authorized club at BHS.

The students assert that national FCA policies discriminate against gay and lesbian students and that the status of the local FCA club at BHS should be revoked. Those policies support the position that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. The article notes that there is no claim that any of the local members have engaged in any discriminatory practices.

The article reports that the School Board has agreed with the students and has given the local FCA club the choice of disaffiliating with national FCA or losing its club status at BHS. Also, as the article notes, the consequences of losing that status are significant.

Supporters or promoters of gay rights have a protected right to express their views. Those who do not agree with that position are entitled to similar protection. The Supreme Court has said, Discussions regarding matters of political interest are at the core of constitutionally protected rights and that such discussions should be robust. Discussion of gay rights is such a matter.

There are at least three First Amendment rights at issue: free speech, religious freedom and the right to assemble. These rights do not provide support for a position I may take but not for an opposing position.

The action by the School Board discriminates against the FCA students, is not reasonable and should be reversed.

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First Amendment rights are not a one-way street - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

As public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump once again put whistleblowers in the national spotlight, a local whistleblower will be posthumously honored this week for his efforts exposing substandard care at the Manchester VA Medical Center.

Dr. William Ed Kois, the late VA Medical Center doctor who prompted a nationwide review after exposing poor conditions at the Manchester VA hospital, is the recipient of the 2019 Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award. Kois, who died in July in a car crash in Hampton, will be posthumously honored at the 17th annual First Amendment Awards event this Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre.

Kois used his medical training as a spinal cord specialist to help ease pain and improve the lives of his patients. He used his sense of what is right and his First Amendment rights of free speech, free press and petitioning the government to touch the lives of countless other VA patients.

He led a group of 11 physicians and employees who contacted a federal whistleblower agency and the Boston Globe Spotlight Team to say the Manchester VA was endangering patients.

Bipartisan support for protection of federal whistleblowers was on display last Thursday during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing about a Department of Veterans Affairs internal watchdog report. The inspector general found that an office meant to protect whistleblowers instead inflicted injury.

Employee confidence in the departments willingness and ability to deal appropriately with whistleblowers has been damaged and it could take a long time to heal.

Departing from her prepared opening statement, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., chairwoman of the veterans affairs subcommittee, said the findings by the VAs inspector general were incredibly disturbing ... The fact that this office seemed to be used as a political weapon, rather than a tool to be able to help veterans get the service they need, that they deserve, that they earned, was a travesty.

After Texas Rep. John Carter, the top Republican on the panel, read the report about the VAs Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, he concluded that pretty much the whole thing is a wreck ... that everything is broken.

One wrecked part of the office was its responsibility to keep secret whistleblowers identity when they requested anonymity. Inspector General Michael Missal told the hearing the office failed to fully protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Former officials in the office, he added, took the position that allegations of whistleblower retaliation could not be investigated unless the whistleblower was willing to disclose his or her identity.

Missals statement came one day after House Intelligence Committee Democrats rejected a Republican move to subpoena the CIA whistleblower in the Ukraine scandal. Those revelations in the whistleblowers complaint led to the impeachment inquiry examining President Donald Trumps alleged effort to use foreign policy for his personal political benefit.

Anonymity is important because many whistleblowers, fearing management reprisals, would not report government wrongdoing without it. VA has a shameful history of retaliation against whistleblowers, particularly after the scandal over the coverup of long patient wait times erupted in 2014.

A Trump executive order established the office, supposedly for whistleblowers protection, in April 2017. Congress codified it with legislation two months later.

We are sending a strong message, Trump said then about whistleblowers. We will make sure that theyre protected.

Instead, the office failed to establish safeguards sufficient to protect whistleblowers from becoming the subject of retaliatory investigations, Missal testified in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Former leaders of the office didnt know what they were doing, according to the reports findings. They made avoidable mistakes early in its development that created an office culture that was sometimes alienating to the very individuals it was meant to protect, Missal said.

He said those leadership failures have had a chilling effect on complainants still being felt today, though he acknowledged the offices improvement under the current leadership of Assistant Secretary Tamara Bonzanto.

Also scheduled to be honored at the 17th annual First Amendment Award event this Tuesday are David Tirrell-Wysocki, the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications long-time director and former newsman, who will be recognized with the Nackey S. Loeb Quill and Ink Award.

Tirrell-Wysocki has been at the Loeb School since it was founded in 1999, serving as executive director since 2007. He grew the schools offerings and partnered with other organizations. He is retiring at the end of the year.

Fox Business Network host Trish Reagan is the events featured speaker.

The First Amendment Award event is the main fundraiser for the nonprofit school, which was founded by Nackey S. Loeb, the late President and Publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. It offers free and low-cost classes to children and adults. Instructors from media outlets and businesses around the state teach courses on the First Amendment, journalism, photography, broadcasting, audio and video production, social media and public speaking.

Tickets for the First Amendment Award event are available at http://www.palacetheatre.org or by calling the theater box office at 668-5588.

The presenting sponsor is Peoples United Bank. Other sponsors and supporters are Eversource Energy, The Brodsky Prize, AutoFair, Bryant Corky Messner, AT&T, Brady Sullivan Properties, McLane Middleton and The Common Man Family of Restaurants.

Media partners are the New Hampshire Union Leader, WMUR-TV and WGIR.

Information from The Washington Post was used in this report.

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Late VA whistleblower Kois to be honored at 17th annual First Amendment Awards - The Union Leader