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Posted on 08/05/2014 8:08:34 PM PDT by bamahead
The U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner claims campus speech codes need to be tightened as college students are still “developing” and cannot yet handle certain information.
Speaking during a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) briefing on sexual harassment law in education, Democrat Michael Yaki likened restricting free speech on college campuses to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision to ban the death penalty for minors.
During the briefing, Yaki said hostile environments on college campuses can occur from fraternities holding “slave auction[s]” or celebrating Latino culture by “making everyone dress as janitors and mop floors.”
“Certain factors in how the juvenile or adolescent or young adult brain processes information is vastly different from the way that we adults do,” Yaki said according to a transcript from Eugene Volokh, a law professor and publisher of the blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, who also testified at the briefing. “So when we sit back and talk about what is right or wrong in terms of First Amendment jurisprudence from a reasonable person’s standpoint, we are really not looking into the same referential viewpoint of these people, of an adolescent or young adult, including those in universities.”
Yaki made these claims while questioning Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit organization advocating for civil liberties in higher education nationwide.
A spokesperson from FIRE declined to comment to Campus Reform as the USCCR has requested the organization wait to make any media comment until after the official transcript from the briefing is released.
“In the meantime, I would point you to the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which extended the franchise to 18-year-olds. FIRE has long argued that if college students can vote and can even be sent off to fight in wars, we must grant them full political rights—and that prominently includes their First Amendment rights,” Robert Shibley, senior vice president at FIRE, did tell Campus Reform.
During the briefing, Yaki said hostile environments on college campuses can occur from fraternities holding “slave auction[s]” or celebrating Latino culture by “making everyone dress as janitors and mop floors.” Yaki also decried campus pageants and other activities in which women “parade around in skimpy clothing and turn in some show or something.”
“[B]ecause of the unique nature of a university campus setting, I think that there are very good and compelling reasons why broader policies and prohibitions on conduct in activities and in some instances speech are acceptable on a college campus level that might not be acceptably say in an adult work environment or in an adult situation,” he said.
Yaki told Campus Reform in an email that he uses briefings as “opportunities to pose questions that help me understand the challenges of the issue” as it “helps clarify—or solidify—or highlight—the difficulty of grappling with a particular issue.”
Yaki also told Campus Reform that he has considered himself a “First Amendment absolutist” for much of his life.
“If there is a way to strike a balance between First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, it will have to [be] done with great restraint and narrowly tailored to pass constitutional muster,” he said. “Frankly, I haven't seen one, and imposing a prior restraint policy w [sic] punishment plainly violates the First Amendment.”
“[H]ow do we work to increase the safety and security, both mental and physical, of all our students in a way that doesn't require infringing on the First Amendment,” Yaki said. “That is the million dollar question that, to me, the briefing was intended, and which more thought and work needs to be done.”
Prior to working as the Civil Rights Commissioner, Yaki was a senior advisor to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and also served on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors where he was subsequently sued by the city for around 70 instances of illegal lobbying.
“But some are MORE equal than others”
And the animals peered in through the window into the farmhouse, looking from face to face, and in time they found they could no longer distinguish pig from man, and man from pig.
Oh, heck. Let’s just take him down into dog-fightin’ pits and throw him in.
The night of the long knives approaches because the useful idiots are no longer useful.
Ping
This assclown is nothing but a goose stepping turd for the left. Worked for rubber face Pelosi, he has no credability.
Just want to control those that can threaten the leftist society.
The Baby-boomers are funny:
As yutes they screamed themselves illy about the dastardly CIA, the treachery of United Fruit, and the shocking speech oppression on campus.
Now as rulers they very easily orchestrate Fast & Furious, sic the IRS on people, and here they are, coaxing the wayward young away from the frightful perils of speaking their minds.
VERY INSTRUCTIVE.
This biased SOB needs to be terminated immediately
Eff him and his cronies that try to deny our most basic Constitutional rights
GTH B******
And college kids will say, “anybody who disagrees with whatever the majority says is racist”.
” - - - also served on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors where he was subsequently sued by the city for around 70 instances of illegal lobbying. - - - “
Yup.
Yaki meets the minimum qualifications to be a card-carrying member of the DEMOCRAT BROTHERHOOD.
Michael Yaki:
He’s a dem lawyer of mixed Asian ancestry from UC Berkeley then Yale Law School, and as Civil Rights Commish his first big deal was stepping in and screaming about how the Chicago Black Panthers carrying clubs in combat boots at the Polls on Obama’s first Immaculation was, like, ok, or something.
Because of, like, racism, and all that kind of stuff, and stuff.
You know?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Yaki
“During the briefing, Yaki said hostile environments on college campuses can occur from fraternities holding “slave auction[s]” or celebrating Latino culture by “making everyone dress as janitors and mop floors.”
The most damaging thing about college is that white and Asian male students are in classes (at least as freshmen) with preferred minorities like blacks, Hispanics, and women that are held to much lower standards than them. No reason for college students to treat people as equals when the government and universities refuse to do so...
At least in my time (20 years ago) nature took its course within a semester or two; token students realized they were so far behind the real students (and would never catch up), and simply dropped out. Such humiliation undoubtedly contributes to their rage & hatred...
I am absolutely flabbergasted at what I am reading here from someone in a position such as Yakity Yak has.
He’s definitely a Democrat.
He runs his own consulting firm.
http://www.michaelyaki.com/contact_us
He’s pretty sure you won’t call up cuz your mom is ugly and your dad was super weak.
left wing totalitarianism everywhere you look.
This is their testing ground for the New America. College is nothing more than a social experiment. Look at his words about protecting students both physically and mentally. I’m sure he and his liberal cohorts would love to codify those beliefs into federal law and use the legal system to stifle any thought or behavior the elite deem offensive or unnecessary. Free thought can be dangerous both mentally and physically.
The elite and their snobbish conspirators are convinced those under them aren’t worthy of freedom and treat everyone as ignorant and infantalized. They see themselves as benevolent social architects who’s overly burdensome and intrusive nanny state will bring harmony and utopia. Totally ignorant of the nature of man and the evils of reality, they are fools.
“Visions of swastikas in my head, plans for everyone”
David Bowie - Little China Girl
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