"Nowhere at that time was there any mention of it being political satire," said Matt Yates, chairperson of the University of Rhode Island's Student Organization Advisory and Review Committee. Yates was referring to a satirical "scholarship":
The College Republicans student organization first advertised the satirical “White, Heterosexual, American Male” “scholarship” in November, 2006. The scholarship consisted of a nominal $100 to be awarded to someone fitting those criteria who submitted an application and an essay on the adversities he has faced.Apparently because Yates among others didn't get the satire, "a committee of the University of Rhode Island (URI) Student Senate voted on Monday to derecognize the College Republicans student group.... [The committee] decided that even advertising the satirical 'scholarship' violated URI’s anti-discrimination bylaws and demanded that the group publish an apology in the campus newspaper. Unwilling to apologize, [College Republicans President Ryan] Bilodeau appealed [the committee’s] decision. The Senate denied that appeal."
Based on election results from several recent state referendums on affirmative action, it would appear that a sizable majority of Americans, like the URI College Republicans, see "affirmative action" as racism. That the URI senate doesn't get the satire seems to indicate that their intellectual life is quite sheltered.
Previously in the series on liberal opposition to free speech:
The selective right of free speech
The Right of Free Speech, Selectively Applied
Tolerating free speech, IV
Tolerating free speech, III
More on tolerating free speech
Those who cannot tolerate free speech
RELATED: A sometime ACLU lawyers writes about the ACLU's interprets the right of free speech selectively.
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