Oh, if only I could return to college and attend a UC college. I would feel all warm and fuzzy surrounded by the university's protective embrace.

"Next Thursday, the University of California Board of Regents will meet to discuss declaring a new right for students and faculty — the right not to be upset by the speech of others. The proposed “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance” starts off by proclaiming the virtues of “[f]ree expression and the open exchange of ideas” as well as “inclusion and academic freedom.” In the very next paragraph, the statement then says that free speech only works as long as it matches their criteria for “inclusion and academic freedom” (via Newsalert):

The University of California is committed to protecting its bedrock values of respect, inclusion, and academic freedom. Free expression and the open exchange of ideas – principles enshrined in our national and state Constitutions – are part of the University’s fiber. So, too, is tolerance, and University of California students, faculty, and staff must respect the dignity of each person within the UC community.

Intolerance has no place at the University of California. We define intolerance as unwelcome conduct motivated by discrimination against, or hatred toward, other individuals or groups. It may take the form of acts of violence or intimidation, threats, harassment, hate speech, derogatory language reflecting stereotypes or prejudice, or inflammatory or derogatory use of culturally recognized symbols of hate, prejudice, or discrimination.

So much for “freedom of expression.” Acts of violence and intimidation are already crimes, and threats and harassment get handled administratively or criminally on college campuses. The UC regents don’t need to issue this directive to deal with those issues. The point of this is to grant the UC campus administrations the right to regulate speech, and to bar any speech that the regents and administrators don’t like. The proposed statement by the regents frame this in a new asserted “right” to be free from ideas that might offend:

Everyone in the University community has the right to study, teach, conduct research, and work free from acts and expressions of intolerance. The University will respond promptly and effectively to reports of intolerant behavior and treat them as opportunities to reinforce the University’s Principles Against Intolerance.

Gee, will those “opportunities” get referred to the Ministry of Intolerance Toward Tolerance? Who gets to decide what is offensive, and what is merely “the free exchange of ideas in keeping with the principles of academic freedom and free speech,” as the next paragraph supposedly assures? The regents? The deans? Faculty? Or just anyone on a campus who decides that, say, a pro-life rally is intolerant to women’s rights? Each snitch-and-bitch tip will at the very least tie up students, faculty, and administrators while someone tries to figure out whether an opinion merits the full weight of the University’s Principles Against Intolerance[l [linked]."