Actually any facility at a public university (a “state actor”) has to be much more careful about viewpoint discrimination than a private business because as the first amendment states:
“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”.
That’s quite plausibly why the event was held there. So all those objecting to GT’s decision should note that it very likely had no choice in the matter.
This is an important point. For everyone on here it sounds like they believe this is a group of crazies. Yet a huge swath of society, for whatever reason, believes similarly.
I would assume that there would be people within the Ga Tech admin that might as well.
I personally don’t see any admin checking guest lists of their campus hotels so this likely only became an issue when it was discovered and not in advance.
But it’s not far fetched to think many on campus believe similarly. After all many elected leaders publicly state they do - whether they truly do or not.
This could definitely be a factor. The public university where I used to work has come out and stated many times that they don’t agree with or condone the viewpoints of some of the groups and speakers that have been on campus but they have to give equal access to all groups requesting access to campus and are not allowed to regulate content. They are allowed to manage the time and place of the campus access, but cannot deny them access just because of their content. Westboro Baptist used to come to campus each spring for this reason–there were no student groups who invited them or supported them, they just requested access to speak on their own.
What defines a “fringe” is the opinion of the experts in the field, not the public. Pretty big majority of the American public believe that gods were involved in the “design” of humans, but that doesn’t make the opinion non-fringe.
It’s likely that the author of the article did his due diligence before writing it. He made the point that the conference center is run by the GT foundation, the non profit fundraising arm, which might have slightly different rules than the university itself. The organization hosting the “summit” is based in FL.
I don’t want to speak for @neela1 and many things people believe lack evidence…religious beliefs, etc
But 41% is not a fringe.
His point is fair. Just because most on the board, myself included, think it’s wacky it doesn’t mean to a huge portion that it’s wacky.
I’m sure the hotel host lots of companies. Coke. Maybe the Gm prefers Pepsi. CNN. Maybe the school prefers Fox.
Again I’m sure this was simply a sales manager taking a reservation. And not analyzed as deeply as it is now. In other words, don’t blame the school or it’s foundation for something they likely didn’t know about.
But even the my pillow guy and his friends have rights.
The hotel could have said no and maybe with the bad press they will. But they’re under no obligation to and I have no issue.
If I let everything an organization did bother me, I’d give in to my wife and move to canada
Somehow the expert is being portrayed as some sort of quantum physicist talking about quantum physics :-). Is there a single expert in the mix that is not politically motivated one way or the other?
Yes. There are experts with expertise in election fraud. Most of them are not politically motivated. NONE of them will participate in this “conference”.
We all believe that even the Supreme Court is politically motivated. But somehow we are willing to believe the experts that agree with us to be politically unmotivated.
The article says nothing about the first amendment. You are speculating, apparently without any basis for doing so, that the conference center which is on GT’s campus “might have slightly different rules”. If you are an expert in first amendment law then I’m sure you will be able to give case law which supports the idea that public universities can engage in viewpoint discrimination.
No need for snark, @Twoin18. The conference center is run by the GT Foundation, a non profit. Some rules may not apply equally. My hypothesis. Civitas’s post above addresses this. And if you are going to be picky, the conference center is actually across the highway from the main campus, not immediately ON the main campus.
Mostly on Internet?