Survey Says Most College Students Are Clueless about the First Amendment

Last week at Columbia University, conservative pundit Tommy Robinsonattempted to give a speech on mass immigration in Europe. Instead, the event devolved into chaos. Students consistently shouted down Robinson, effectively preventing him from speaking as he Skyped into the campus auditorium from the United Kingdom. He gave up on trying to speak and instead fielded questions from protesters.

“This is our free speech, this is our First Amendment right,” repeated some of the protesters as they shouted over Robinson.

It was clear that many students had a warped understanding of the First Amendment.

To be fair, an argument could be made that, because Robinson spoke before students at a private university, First Amendment protections might not apply. But student protesters didn’t raise the specter of that concern. Indeed, their only way of justifying their actions was to claim that they were expressing their “free speech” rights in shouting down Robinson.

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