"There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law"
-Abraham Lincoln
On July 7th, shortly after the murder of police officers by a black supremacist in Dallas, Rohini Sethi, Vice President of the University of Houston's Student Government, made a controversial remark on Twitter:
"Forget #BlackLivesMatter," she tweeted. "More like AllLivesMatter".
The student body was outraged, and several students called for her removal as Vice President, with the hashtag, #RemoveRohini spreading like wildfire throughout the campus.
Instead of removing her, the Student Senate gave student Student Body President, Shane Smith, the power to punish Rohini in any way that he saw fit.
A few weeks later, Smith publicly released a letter with a list of punishments. Failure to meet any of these punishments would result in immediate expulsion from the SGA. The punishments were:
-A 50 day suspension from the Student Government
-Compulsory attendance at a Diversity Workshop
-Mandatory attendance at UH "cultural events"
-A letter of reflection apologizing to the entire campus for her wrongful behavior
-A detailed presentation about what she learned about "the cultural issues facing our society"
-An all expenses paid trip to Lake Laogai, where she will be brainwashed into repeating the mantra, "Black Lives Matter."
Alright, I made up that last one, but doesn't it fit so well?
I get it. The phrase, "All Lives Matter" is a stupid rebuttal to the BLM movement. Even I cringe every time I hear it used, and I'm certainly no fan of the Black Lives Matter movement.
That being said, I think the students of UH need to just get over it. It was a harmless tweet. She didn't incite violence or racial hatred, she was criticizing a specific movement. The phrase, "All Lives Matter" is inherently anti-racist. You have every right to get upset at what she said, but she has every right to say it.
Was granting the Student Body President executive authority to punish Sethi in any way possible really necessary, or was it simply an appeal to mob justice? Are the excessive punishments given really fair disciplinary action, or is it an Orwellian attempt to force Sethi to conform to the whims of the general will?
Smith's defense for the punishment was also disgraceful. He said that he had to be excessive with his punishments because Sethi must be "held to a higher standard," due to her position within the SGA.
Of course, the party elites are always the ones hit the hardest when the Purge hits.
Smith also said that this was not a first amendment issue, as the First Amendment only protects the individual from the government interfering with free speech. Other institutions may take action as they see fit.
Fair enough, but the general principle of free speech should still apply here, particularly with a university, where intellectual diversity is a must in order to function properly. Does it really make much sense to say, "we're going to suspend you without pay, force you to attend diversity workshops, and have you make an entire presentation on racial issues for a single tweet...but that's okay, at least you won't be thrown in jail!"
Honestly...
I'm conservative, would you like to know the ludicrous arguments I hear from liberals every time I look at a computer screen? Would you like to know how it's like when people constantly accuse conservatives of being racist, or Islamophobic, or homophobic or whatever? But you know what? I learned to deal with it. I learned that in this wide world we all live in, people just may have different opinions. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some of them are downright ugly (and we all have a mix of the three). If you don't like what someone is saying, either engage in an argument to see where they're coming from and show them where you think they're wrong, or just move on. Even unfollow their Twitter accounts if you want to.
But for goodness' sake, don't subject people who disagree with you to a Witch Hunt.
I prefaced this article with a quote by Abraham Lincoln, given in his famous 1838 Lyceum address. He was addressing the instances of violence and lynchings amidst the growing tensions over slavery. Although Sethi's punishment was officially sanctioned by the SGA, it's clear that it was ultimately influenced by the sinister mob mentality that has infected social justice movements in campuses across the nation.
This was precisely the kind of "public passion" that Madison warned so sternly against in The Federalist Papers. A government that only listens to the wishes of the majority will very soon begin to silence the voices of the minority. Student governments are no different. While the SGA president may think that his actions pose no problem because he is acting outside of the government, he should bear in mind that many members of the University of Houston's SGA may very well seek political careers in the future. Are these the kinds of attitudes we want them to cultivate?
