3 Students Face U-Md. Action For Shouting at Cheney Speech

3 Students Face U-Md. Action For Shouting at Cheney Speech
Vice President's Wife Addressed Policy Forum

By Amy Argetsinger
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 5, 2004; Page B01


Three University of Maryland students are facing disciplinary action for an incident in which they shouted questions and comments to Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife, during a public forum at the school.

There was no open microphone at Cheney's Feb. 29 appearance on the College Park campus, and guests had been told to submit questions for her in writing. Instead, two of the students called out their questions -- one on gay marriage, the other on reparations for the descendants of slaves -- from their seats, and the third loudly uttered a vulgarity in response to one of Cheney's answers.

Two of the students said they have been accused of "disorderly or disruptive conduct," under a University of Maryland policy designed to protect the rights of speakers from being shouted off stage or drowned out by contentious audience members.

The students said that they weren't disrupting Cheney's speech -- that they were just asking questions. And their case has drawn the scrutiny of civil liberties advocates, who say the university's action infringes on the students' right to free speech.

~snip~
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50129-2004Apr4?language=printer

discussing now on CSPAN.

What a novel idea. Sounds something like our constitution. Is that in use anymore?

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1213-05.htm

Published on Thursday, December 13, 2001 in the San Jose Mercury News
Lynne Cheney-Joe Lieberman Group Puts Out a Blacklist
by Roberto J. Gonzalez

...

The offensive, spearheaded by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based group, threatens free speech, democratic debate and the integrity of higher education. In an incendiary report, ``Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America,'' the American Council claims that ``colleges and university faculty have been the weak link in America's response'' to Sept. 11. It also asserts that ``when a nation's intellectuals are unwilling to defend its civilization, they give comfort to its adversaries.''


The American Council of Trustees and Alumni was founded in 1995 by Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Its Website claims that it contributed $3.4 billion to colleges and universities last year, making it ``the largest private source of support for higher education.'' Cheney is cited several times in the report, and is reportedly a close associate of its authors, Jerry Martin and Anne Neal.

...

Many of those blacklisted are top scholars in their fields, and it appears that the report represents a kind of academic terrorism designed to strike fear into other academics by making examples of respected professors

...

The targeting of scholars who participate in civic debates might signal the emergence of a new McCarthyism directed at the academy. Before it escalates into a full-blown witch hunt in the name of ``defending civilization,'' faculty, students and citizens should speak out against these acts of academic terrorism.

beginning to "look like" Germany in the 30's to me. What's up with these nuts?

Why doesn't someone do something about this? We need to develop grass roots coalitions so that we can expose these actions before "things get out of hand."

You know you can cook a frog if you place him in the pot while the water is cold....it's as if we're allowing them to slowly pull the wool over our collective eyes!

what people can do in some respects. Certain forces have become institutionalized. What happened to our generation that gave America a conscience? What we did is now looked down upon. Things have become more right wing than any sober assessment could have accounted for.