American colleges are veering into academic 'police state' territory Washington Times, Dec 28, 2019, Cheryl K. Chumley
The assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice just issued a statement reminding that America is not a “police state,” and neither should be the college campuses that dot the landscape of this country.
The very fact the DOJ has to release this statement shows how very far America’s freedoms have fallen.
“College campuses should not be mini police states,” wrote Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general, as well as several other attorneys, in a “Statement of Interest” filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of plaintiffs accusing Jones County Junior College in Mississippi of several egregious freedom of speech violations against students
And in a statement on the DOJ website, Dreiband elaborated with this: “The United States of America is not a police state. Repressive speech codes are the indecent hallmark of despotic, totalitarian regimes. They have absolutely no place in our country, and the First Amendment outlaws all tyrannical policies, practices and acts that abridge the freedom of speech.”
Yet college campuses, with increasing frequency, have in fact, in some instances, become breeding grounds for police state-like hits on the First Amendment.
QuoteLet’s remember one thing here, and one thing only: The First Amendment is not the government’s guarantee of freedom of speech. It’s not a government gift; it’s not a government grant; it’s not a government promise.
It’s a reminder to government of a God-given right to the individual. It’s a reminder to government that freedom of speech comes from God — not government.