Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has introduced a new bill that would deny funding to public universities that limit free speech.
The move comes as many universities in the U.S. have become indoctrination camps rather than places to receive an education.
The problem is the left does not want free speech unless it fits into their ideology.
Campus Reform reports:
Sen. Cotton introduces bill to defund public universities that limit free speech
On May 10, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton introduced the Campus Free Speech Restoration Act to prevent schools from restricting students’ freedom of speech.
“Too many of America’s public colleges have attacked the First Amendment rights of their students using so-called free speech zones and unconstitutional speech codes,” Cotton stated.
“This bill fights back against campus censors in order to defend open debate and free speech, which lead us to the truth.”
Cotton said if the bill is enacted, the law could force universities to lose federal funding if they stifle students’ rights to free expression.
“Colleges and universities ought to be centers of free thought and spirited debate — places where young Americans are exposed to all sides of an issue and sometimes hear things that they disagree with or maybe even makes them uncomfortable,” he said.
The Campus Free Speech Restoration Act is also designed to eliminate free speech zones that schools deem appropriate to hold open dialogue.
“The free speech zones on campus are usually relegated to the waste management treatment center in some corner of the campus where there’s never any foot traffic,” Cotton quipped.
As The New York Post reported in May:
“Unfortunately, thanks to the politicization of faculty and college administrators and left-wing thought police, increasingly many of our universities are some of the most monolithic institutions in the country,” he alleged.
Cotton is joined by nine fellow sponsors of the bill, including Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. All are Republicans, who make up the minority in the Senate.
“I wish we had more Democratic support, but I’ve got to say it doesn’t surprise me that we don’t,” Cotton said.
“Unfortunately, the Democratic Party, and more broadly the progressive movement in America, is hostile to free speech.”
Cotton hopes the Campus Free Speech Restoration Act will help reorient academia toward free speech principles central to the nation’s founding.
“The whole point of college is to expose students to ideas that they haven’t previously heard,” Cotton told The Post.
“But if we’re protecting them and creating nothing but safe spaces and relegating free speech to the edge of the campus, we’re failing the students that we’re trying to educate.”
READ: Twitter Faces Being Banned in Europe for Allowing “Free Speech”
It will die in the senate even if the house passes it.
Tom’s going way out on a limb. How about defunding them for turning our kids into Communists? This guy is a RINO.
The 1st Amendment only restricts Congress. It needs to codified in law and rolled down to all Federally funded organizations. Any person or organization that violates any provision or uses 3rd parties to violate any provision should lose their funding or job and pension.