Free Speech is a Political Litmus Test?

More than 100 people joined the Pope Center last Saturday for a daylong conference on academic freedom. The group grew to 130 for remarks by outspoken free speech advocate David Horowitz. The conference was reported on by a Duke University law student for the Renew America website. In his story, John Plecnik noted what Jon Sanders also is reporting on the Pope Center website. It seems that the day before the conference, an NC State English professor, Cat Warren, sent an e-mail to faculty in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The note referred to the Pope Center conference, held at the McKimmon Center and featuring Horowitz, as a “most critical issue before us” at NC State, proclaiming that Horowitz’ proposed Academic Bill of Rights contains “carefully chosen language” that “does not fully expose the agenda behind it.” Then Warren says: “the real agenda – imposing political litmus tests on course content.” Read the entire e-mail at www.popecenter.org. According to the Oct. 13 Raleigh News & Observer, earlier in the month NC State’s Faculty Senate passed a resolution opposing Horowitz’s Bill of Rights. “I’m sure he would be happy to introduce something here,” Warren told the N&O. “This is not a time for complacency. We are in a fight for the public opinion.” The conference also garnered space on the web site, www.campusreportonline.net. Writer Malcolm Kline focused on remarks by Dr. Allan Kors about speech codes on college campuses.