“The First Amendment gives him the right to speak his mind, but it doesn’t give him the right to speak at such an elevated platform as the commencement. That’s a privilege his racist and bigoted remarks don’t give him.”
Students at UC-Berkeley (UCB) are protesting liberal talk-show host Bill Maher’s scheduled December commencement speech through an online petition that has gathered 1,500 signatures.
The Change.org petition was initiated by Marium Navid, an Associated Students of UC Senator, and backed by the Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Coalition (MEMSA) student group, according to The Daily Californian, UCB’s official student newspaper.
“It’s not an issue of freedom of speech, it’s a matter of campus climate,” said Navid. “The First Amendment gives him the right to speak his mind, but it doesn’t give him the right to speak at such an elevated platform as the commencement. That’s a privilege his racist and bigoted remarks don’t give him.”
Maher, host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, is known for his satirical remarks on issues such as political correctness and religion. He asked to speak at the commencement back in August and recentlybecame the subject of controversy for clashing with guests over Islam.
Read more at
Stories published in our Daily Digests section are chosen based on the interest of our readers. They are republished from a number of sources, and are not produced by MintPress News. The views expressed in these articles are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect MintPress News editorial policy.
A Saudi airstrike targeted a school bus carrying children to summer camp on Dhahian’s outskirts in Yemen’s northwestern province of Saada.
The U.S.-backed Saudi coalition in Yemen carried out another disturbing war crime against civilians. A series of airstrikes killed at least 55 civilians and injured over 170 more at a busy fishermen market and hospital. According to Yemen’s Health Ministry, the victims included nine children.
A Saudi-coalition bombing targeted a residential neighborhood in Amran, Yemen, killing 15 civilians mostly women and children.
The recent devastating car bombing in Mogadishu has been blamed by Somali officials on the terrorist group al-Shabab. But the violence (and famine) that have beset Somalia have deeper roots — decades of imperialism and intervention, and use of Somalia as a staging grounds for the “war on terror.”
