CPAC Panelist: Republicans Should Pass Laws to Protect Free Speech Rights

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Feb 27, 2017

CPAC Panelist: Republicans Should Pass Laws to Protect Free Speech Rights

A panelist who spoke at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) argued that Republicans need to pass laws that protect the free speech rights of conservatives on college campuses.

The Christian Post reports that Dr. Matthew Spalding, the dean of educational programs at Hillsdale College in Washington D.C., spoke about free speech rights on college campuses as part of a panel called “Facts, Not Feelings: Snowflakes, Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings.”

Spalding cited recent examples of conservative students facing opposition for voicing their opinions.

One such example was that of a student at Missouri State University who was expelled from his master’s program in counseling for his conservative views on gay marriage. Another example was that of another panelist, Madison Gesiotto, Miss Ohio USA 2014 and a law student at Ohio State University who received threats for writing that abortion is the “number one killer of black Americans.”

Gesiotto told the crowd at CPAC that she was threatened for her pro-life stance and there was even an effort to have her removed from her position at the school’s law journal.

Gesiotto, along with fellow panelist Amanda Owens, founder of the conservative group Future Female Leaders, gave conservative college students advice on how to fight for their free speech rights.

Spalding stated that Republicans currently have a great opportunity to protect free speech rights:

"The Republicans control more state legislatures then they have ever in the past. So they have a lot of leverage. Free speech, as it has been presented, is extremely important and we should fight these battles precisely as [Gesiotto and Owens] have laid them out, but you have to keep in mind that this is a political battle."

 

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: February 27, 2017



CPAC Panelist: Republicans Should Pass Laws to Protect Free Speech Rights