Free Republic

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) -- Valdosta State University seniors are taking their last steps across campus, but some students are having second thoughts about walking across the stage at graduation. Next weekend's commencement ceremonies at Valdosta State are bringing some controversy with them. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will be speaking, and that isn't sitting well with some students. VSU administration has told students they planned to invite the governor to speak at commencement, regardless of who won November's election. Last month, the university announced Kemp would deliver the commencement address, and it's been stirring up a lot of controversy on campus.

Occasionally, you come across a legal case so strange that it makes you stop and wonder, “Is this even for real?” Such a case has recently come to an end with a strong victory for student free speech rights and an equally strong rebuke to the idea many college administrators seem to have that they hold king-like powers on campus. The facts are as follows. In early 2007, Hayden Barnes was a student at Valdosta State University in Georgia (VSU) when school officials announced plans to build a new parking garage using $30 million in student fee money. Barnes, an...

Eric Sheppard, the Valdosta State University student who was confronted last month by an Air Force veteran after he stomped on the American flag, has issued a violent 4,700-word anti-white rant in which he threatened to “annihilate those who come after me.” Sheppard is wanted by police after they found a gun in his backpack days after the flag-stomping demonstration. In his lengthy letter, submitted to The Valdosta Daily Times this week, Sheppard said he will not surrender and will use violence if necessary. The flag incident made national news after Michelle Manhart, an Air Force veteran and former Playboy...

Protests have been going on all week (after) Air Force veteran Michelle Manhart, was briefly detained during the flag-trampling protest for taking the flag and refusing to return it. Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress told the Valdosta Daily Times that thousands of people who "just want to come down here and support the American flag" are expected to descend on Valdosta State University.