D'artagnan wrote: Bill, I belong to the ACLU, so I don't need to be reminded about the value of free speech.
It would appear you do, if you don't find the
State School's response more offensive than the kid's joke-in-poor-taste.
D'artagnan wrote: Just for argument sake: If I'm at the family dinner table, is it OK to call my sister fat and tell her to eat less? Would my dad be out-of-line if he told me to shut up?
No. That would be his free-speech exercised. And a private dinner table is not on par with a publicly funded school.
D'artagnan wrote: A college campus is, in some ways, a closed community. It's OK to have rules re not offending members of the community. Yes, the guy who posted the sign shouldn't be thrown out of school.
Yes and no. Certainly, this
State School has the right to regulate behavior... but within reason. The original punishment did not fit the crime... by any stretch of the imagination. Apparently, even the fools who originally imposed it have seen the error in their ways.
D'artagnan wrote:But braying about how idiotic the whole thing is misses the point entirely.
"But braying about how idiotic the whole thing is'
is the point entirely
from the original post onwards. Think it through D'art
I'm quite certain you place a higher value on the freedom of speech, than the feelings of those who were offended by the joke-in-poor-taste, yes?