Silly Little Country

Where Will We Have Freedom if not at Universities?

What a pusillanimous bunch of administrators!  And how typical of Western universities now.

But officials at Uppsala University said they doubted they would invite Lars Vilks again after police used pepper spray and batons to help him escape a furious crowd Tuesday.

I like his attitude though!

"I'm ready to go up again," he said. "This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped."The 53-year-old artist has faced numerous threats over his 2007 sketch of Muhammad with a dog's body.

The institutional cowardice of Western universities has become stunning, as they work so hard to try to suppress the likes of Vilks, while happily supporting farces like Israel Apartheid Week.  They crumble before threats of violence.

I'll give credit - back in the '70s, when I went to Berkeley, I arrived to find the campus surrounded by Alameda County Sheriffs' staff, shoulder to shoulder.  Sure, they were defending the rights of a rather different set of people to speak, but one no more commendable.

Where did those times go?  I would be ashamed to be working for many Western Universities.  In defence of the one that I have a small connection to, Ann Coulter did manage to speak at the University of Western Ontario.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:16 PM