It appears that left-wing campus newspaper The Insurgent can add nationally televised conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly to the list of people offended by the anti-Christianity articles and illustrations published in its March issue.
On “The O’Reilly Factor” Wednesday, O’Reilly blasted the cartoons and what he called inaction by University President Dave Frohnmayer, whom he described as an irresponsible coward who should be fired for failing to censor The Insurgent.
In doing so, O’Reilly proved himself a babbling idiot without basic knowledge of The Insurgent situation or any fundamental respect for the U.S. Constitution.
Foremost, O’Reilly said Frohnmayer should take action to disband The Insurgent because the publication receives money from student fees. However, Frohnmayer is legally bound not to take such action, something O’Reilly and the greivance-happy coalition Students of Faith just can’t seem to grasp.
Just as the Oregon Commentator, a conservative campus journal, could not be defunded for its content last year when it published an article many students deemed hateful against transgendered individuals, The Insurgent cannot and should not be defunded despite the ridiculous nature of its recent issue.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the case Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth that universities may require students to pay mandatory fees, part of which support expression of ideas they disagree with, as long as all programs receiving fees get money through a “viewpoint neutral” process.
Viewpoint neutrality has become an ideal within student government, and the ASUO process for dispersing fees is designed to adhere to this principle.
In his opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote: “The University may determine that its mission is well served if students have the means to engage in dynamic discussions of philosophical, religious, scientific, social, and political subjects in their extracurricular campus life outside the lecture hall.”
The Insurgent cartoons, although offensive to many, have spurred a rigorous philosophical debate on campus.
Thus neither Frohnmayer, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education nor any other body can restrict this speech.
O’Reilly and Students of Faith either have not read or do not understand the Southworth ruling.
It is time that Students of Faith stop wasting both ASUO and University administrators’ time with pointless and legally groundless grievances. They have proved the point that they are upset and deeply offended, but restricting campus speech of any kind sets a dangerous precedent.
O’Reilly should take care to do better research before offering his unique brand of blathering spin. He invited University students Tyler Graf and Jethro Higgins on the show, but he barely gave them a chance to speak, as he is famous for doing. Although we do not always agree with Graf, editor emeritus of the Commentator, he deserves a slap on the back for standing up to O’Reilly on this matter.
As for O’Reilly’s charge that Frohnmayer was too afraid to appear, we doubt it. He argued and won six cases before the Supreme Court, showing an ability to use logic and persuasion. That’s more than we can say for O’Reilly.