Free Speech in Alabama

Free Speech in Alabama

Suzanne Fields: Lighting the fire for free speech

Everybody's in favor of freedom of speech as long as it's his own. Often the most educated are the most easily offended 'sensitive' men and women who want to kick in the First Amendment when they don't like the speech it protects.

That's what happened at the University of Alabama, when a student put the Confederate battle flag on his dormitory door. The administration didn't like it, so it drafted a ban to forbid any public display 'inconsistent with accepted standards or University policies.'

The administrative powers figured that such a wide-ranging ban would give them the authority to say what was free and what was forbidden. But a group of Alabama students who thought the First Amendment actually means what it says, with the help of several like-minded professors and civil libertarians, called 'Bama's bluff. They displayed a veritable forest of flags and international symbols, waving them at a vigil for free speech, challenging the university to look for offenses.