Just published by The Student Life:
cheers to CMC!
Hopefully this spreads. People should face consequences for their actions.
An article from the CMC Forum that adds that “Additionally, four non-CMC students have had their on-campus permissions revoked. * * * CMC has provided evidence to administration at the other Claremont colleges so that they may reviews policy violations by their own students.” http://cmcforum.com/news/07172017-student-conduct-process-completed-three-months-after-heather-macdonald-protests
Further info from the CMC website:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/07/18/claremont-mckenna-suspends-5-students-blocking-speech
Gyamfi (a lawyer?), must never have actually read the First Amendment, or she may have learned about the right to peaceable assemble. The right to free speech, doesn’t do you any good if no one can hear you speak. 
*** “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”***
Good for the school. Be interesting to see if it has an effect on protests there going forward.
It’s worth noting that MacDonald, while very much a conservative, is nothing like a talk-radio provocateur. She’s scholarly and principled, she doesn’t blow with the wind to use the talking points of the week, and she doesn’t follow the herd on every issue. When talking about BLM, she never fails to acknowledge (and to condemn) the history of racism in this country and the history of institutional support for racism by law enforcement. She’s low key and soft-spoken, carefully nonoffensive, a long way from Steve Bannon or Milo Yiannopoulos.
one of the great things about the protests in the 60’s was that the protestors were ready to be arrested AND accept whatever punishment they might incur. It was a badge of honor to be arrested.
I think CMC felt compelled to act because the Athenaeum, the venue where MacDonald was supposed to speak, is a great source of pride for the college and to do nothing would have damaged the reputation of the Athenaeum. https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/athenaeum-guidelines. Usually at Ath events there is a lunch or dinner for which reservations are required and CMC students are given priority; there is a dress code that prohibits shorts, jeans or T-shirts at evening presentations. Typically there is a 5:30 pm reception, dinner at 6 pm, then the speaker presentation which would have included moderated questions from the audience starts at 6:45 pm. https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/schedules/current-semester-schedule. I think the CMC administration rightly felt that if they imposed no sanctions, then they would effectively be granting protesters veto power over the selection of Athenaeum speakers and would discourage speakers from agreeing to come. Not to mention discouraging students from attending to hear alternative views.
The government isn’t allowed to ban free speech, but private entities like CMC are. That said, I am glad to see at least one college crack down on students who block speakers they disagree with.
Middlebury should take note. This is how serious violations should be handled.
Agree.
What happened to freedom of speech? Assault or other criminal behavior of course cannot be tolerated or excused.
That is not relevant to this scenario. Do you see why?
@preppedparent the FAQ on the CMC statement contains a pretty detailed explanation of CMC’s commitment to freedom of speech (which includes the freedom to hear a speaker) and the disciplinary process. They disciplined only 7 students out of 170. They did not discipline students who were protesting but not blocking access, The ones who received the year long suspension were leaders of the effort to remove security fencing and blockade all entrances/exits to the Athenaeum. To me this is no different than pro-life protesters outside a Planned Parenthood Clinic. They have the right to protest but not to block access to the clinic. Conor Friedersdorf, who is a Pomona graduate, interviewed Nana Gyamfi and discusses her arguments and why he disagrees in this recently published piece: https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/534114/. He thinks the year long suspensions were overly harsh.
As a CMC parent, I applaud the decision. It is a very small minority of the students at CMC who are monopolizing the dialogue and focus of the campus. Many of the protestors were from other campuses or outside the consortium altogether. According to my kid who observed the protest, there was hateful and antisemitic speech from the those protesting. But that is supposed to be ok? I am so happy to see consequences given for actions.
No. Are you saying the right to free speech applies to private entities?
It’s not a question of CMC’s ability to curtail access to someone’s “speech”, but of the students and others ability to come to campus and interfere with others ability to “peaceably assemble”.
Clearly the first amendment includes not only the right to free speech, but also to peaceably assemble. There is a right to “hear someone speak”.
CMC being private or public, has nothing to do with this, the same issues would have been raised if the speech was at UCLA.
I thought that was the case until I took a class on constitutional law.
https://www.law360.com/articles/919291
Free Speech at Private Universities
“Although the First Amendment prohibits the government from infringing on free speech rights, it does not prevent private persons or entities from doing so.[1] Thus, while the First Amendment protects free speech at public universities, it generally does not apply to private universities.[2]”
yes. This was an invited speaker. Once invited, the CMC student manual on campus conduct applies.