At Berkeley, Speech Takes a Hit
Did I mention that Maher is also an outspoken liberal Democrat who uses his show to bash conservatives and Republicans, and who contributed $1 million to President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign? It's impossible to imagine that the president of any liberal arts university in America would have gone to these lengths to preserve an invitation for a "provocative" speaker from the right.
Earlier this year, I don't recall Rutgers University President Robert Barchi intervening when students and faculty on his campus protested the invitation to Condoleezza Rice, who served as secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, to be a commencement speaker. The uproar got so loud that Rice eventually backed out because she feared the controversy would detract from the students' graduation festivities.
Where was the left's respect for free speech then? Do liberals even know what they believe in anymore? It all seems situational.
And back at UC Berkeley, what happened to what liberals told us in the 1990s about the need for hate speech codes on campus because -- free speech notwithstanding -- words can wound?
One solution could have been to invite Maher to make two talks: the commencement speech, and then a debate with an expert on Islamic studies.
Muslim students and others on campus were wounded by Maher's words, and they expected to get a fair hearing for their concerns at a university that prides itself for espousing and protecting liberal traditions.
The chancellor didn't give them one. And for that, shame on him. And shame on UC Berkeley.
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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.
Copyright 2014 Washington Post Writers Group
