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The Good, the Bad, and the Just Plain Silly

As a free speech organization, we see pretty much every type of censorship out there. People are frequently censored at colleges and universities for engaging in controversial political speech. Other times, people are censored for engaging in speech that is crude and repugnant, but that is wholly protected. And then there are times that people seem to be censored for no reason at all. Today鈥檚 case at Marquette University is one of those instances. In the spirit of levity, here are a few more of the silliest instances of censorship we鈥檝e seen here at 麻豆传媒IOS:
- Gonzaga University tried to punish students for engaging in 鈥渉ate speech鈥 for posting a flyer advertising a speech by the author of the book Why the Left Hates America. Gonzaga administrators reasoned that because the flyer contained the word 鈥渉ate,鈥 it constituted 鈥渉ate speech.鈥
- The University of New Hampshire charged a student with 鈥渉arassment鈥 and 鈥渄isorderly conduct鈥 for posting a flyer in his dorm elevators joking that women who want to lose the 鈥楩reshman 15鈥 should take the stairs instead of the elevator. The flyer was merely intended to make light of the student鈥檚 frustration with people who delay the elevator by taking it for just one or two floors instead of taking the stairs.
- The University of Central Florida attempted to punish a student for calling a student government candidate a 鈥渏erk and a fool鈥 on the popular college website Facebook.com.
- Indian River Community College banned a student group from showing The Passion of the Christ because it was rated R, while at the same time allowing the performance of a skit entitled 鈥淔*cking for Jesus.鈥
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