Wisconsin Republicans Consider Cracking Down on Campus Protests

[jpak]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/student-activists-meet-republican-lawmakers/531372/

The national controversy surrounding attempts to shut down controversial speakers on college campuses entered a new phase this week, with the Senate Judiciary Committee holding a hearing, “Free Speech 101: The Assault on the First Amendment on College Campuses.” But even as they held that hearing, Republican legislators in the Wisconsin State Assembly advanced legislation that would severely punish such protests—and pose its own threat to free speech in the process.

Under the bill, University of Wisconsin students “could face a disciplinary hearing if they receive two or more complaints about disruptive conduct during a speech or presentation,” The Washington Post reports. “If a student is found responsible for ‘interfering with the expressive rights of others,’ the bill would require that the student be suspended for a minimum of one semester. A third violation would result in expulsion. Anyone who feels their expressive rights are violated can file a complaint.”

State Representative Jesse Kremer says he sponsored the legislation as a response to situations when the free-speech rights of students were taken away by disruptions. “People are still allowed to protest and disagree,” he told the newspaper. “It’s that the person in a forum has the right to get their point across without being disrupted.”

But a critic of the bill suggested that its punitive approach to protest was itself a threat to free speech rights. “Our colleges and universities should be a place to vigorously debate ideas and ultimately learn from one another,” State Representative Lisa Subeck, a Democrat, told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Instead, this campus gag rule creates an atmosphere of fear where free expression and dissent are discouraged.”

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[dalton99a]

1. Wisconsin Republicans are so servile to their little despot

Wisconsin is now worse than Kansas

[Chasstev365]

4. When Scott Walker talks to one of the Koch Brothers it starts with:

"Yes master." "Whatever it is that pleases you."

[kimbutgar]

2. There's a little thing called freedom of speech and right to address government in our

constitution. What a waste of taxpayer money, the federal courts will strike this down.

That said Wisconsin is now a hellhole to live in. I feel bad for the good people there. The rethugs have so locked down the state that the Democrats will never win again. It is like an organized crime party took over the state.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Oh boy,here we go again.

What happened during the Vietnam Days,the local Rethugs went to the Board of Regents and had Students Expelled for bogus crap,watched it in real time.