The University of Connecticut is in the midst of the toils and troubles that always comes with having a conservative speaker. This is your example of a typical reaction, as the Campus Establishment (by which I mean, the liberals) are alleging that those in the student government who voted to bring Coulter to campus have a conflict of interest given that they are also members, leaders even, of the College Republicans.
The UConn handbook requires the neutrality of its students, but there’s hardly a conflict of interest; for one thing it’s not like conservative voices abound in Storrs. The other is that on a content-neutral basis, Ann Coulter’s national standing is enough to warrant the use of student funds. If there are meek university students concerned with Coulter’s tendency to abrogate the common, clean, healthily open-minded environment with her brand of honesty, then they can stay at home and listen to their racially-charged gangsta rap while watching reciting their favorite David Chapelle jokes. The open-minded and discursive Students Against Hate is planning a counter-event, designed to pull people away from the Coulter speech.
Much of the pomp is being celebrated under a speech code in the university handbook: “Every member of the University shall refrain from actions that intimidate humiliate or demean persons or groups, or that undermine their security or self-esteem.” This anti-harassment policy has been repeatedly proven a violation of the First Amendment, as both the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has shown time and again at various colleges.
Ann Coulter is hardly a cute widdle puppy. But even if her rhetoric can be largely offensive, that’s because the offended are only listening to her rhetoric, designed to infuriate people who aren’t willing to laugh at the absurdity of politics. If you actually look past the obvious jokes, which no reasonable person would take as absolute seriousness, you’ll see a brilliant mind at work. She is a lawyer, after all, one who went to Cornell (natch!).
