California Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) has introduced the “Campus Free Speech Act,” an amendment to the California constitution that would require state-funded colleges to adopt a policy to not infringe on the free speech rights of others and disinvite speakers that are unpopular with certain groups.
“We do not send our kids to tremendously expensive college campuses to live in a bubble where they’re only hearing their point of view, where they’re protected from hearing something they may might not agree with. That is not the point of going to college. It’s that you’re exposed to different views and you learn about different things, not this nonsense of ‘we don’t want you to hear that, it might upset you.’”
The amendment, known as AB-14 in the Assembly, also requires colleges put measures into place to ensure the security of both the speakers and the students.
“Believe me, they are able to do that. If they can bring heads of state to college campuses and employ appropriate security, if they can have the Dalai Lama come with all the security he comes with and keep them safe, I am certain that they can keep conservative speakers safe and the students who come to hear them as well.”
Assemblywoman Melendez says none of her Democratic colleagues have yet offered support for the proposed act.
“[One] particular member felt that the protesters would feel that he was somehow trying to infringe on their free speech rights. I guess in California, the Democrats and the Liberals are very happy with what’s going on in college campuses because it’s not their folks who are being shut out.”
Melendez was a guest on McIntyre In The Morning.
By Tim Winebrenner
KABC News
