U.S. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee says conservative college students should feel encouraged as they contend with hostile leftist professors and leftist classmates on campus.
“Be encouraged. Be grateful you are someone who does not fall in line with the liberal dictate of the day,” Blackburn told CampusReform.org this week.
“That you know who you are and what you stand for and don’t ever ever ever let anybody sit down and tell you to shut up.”
As The Tennessee Star reported, Blackburn has sponsored a resolution to encourage free speech and inclusive debate on college campuses.
Blackburn said universities are stifling conservative speech.
“Imagine how you would feel if you were on a college campus and you were not encouraged to be inquisitive and to learn. You were discouraged from exploring other opinions or reading a variety of work. I always feel as though my conservative viewpoints and principles have been strengthened by reading works from our founders,” Blackburn told Campus Reform.
“Reading works about our nation’s history. Looking at the people and their lives that were so involved at different, crucial times of our nation’s history. Challenging myself. I will periodically read something with which I know I am going to disagree or listen to a program that I know I will disagree, but I am going to defend that person’s right to defend that position. That’s what free speech is all about.”
According to its website, Campus Reform caters to college students and exposes bias and abuse in the nation’s college campuses.
Blackburn told the website that a university environment “should be a robust debate of different ideas.”
Blackburn’s Campus Free Speech Resolution of 2019 is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), James Lankford (R-OK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Scott (R-SC).
Conservative experts in education and free speech applauded the resolution.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Campus Reform.
