You can tell a lot about a person by what they choose to fight for or advocate. George Will is not spending his time worrying about a subject that is concerning Congress and the White House at the moment, which is the ridiculous levels of sexual assault in our armed services. Instead, Mr. Will is worried about college students’ rights to:
Make “sexual or dirty jokes” that are “unwelcome.” Or disseminate “sexual rumors” (even if true) that are “unwelcome.” Or make “unwelcome” sexual invitations. Or engage in the “unwelcome” circulation or showing of “e-mails or Web sites of a sexual nature.” Or display or distribute “sexually explicit drawings, pictures, or written materials” that are “unwelcome.”
When I went to college in the early 1990’s, we were starting to see some pretty stupid stuff in our student handbooks about political correctness, mostly related to race. I remember that there was an instruction not to stare at tables of minorities in the cafeteria paired with an instruction not to deliberately avoid making eye contact with tables of minorities in the cafeteria. So, I’m familiar with well-intentioned regulations that attempt merely to get people not to be jerks but which come off sounding idiotic.
But, here, Mr. Will is concerned that students may be punished for behavior that a reasonable person (usually a woman) would not see as offensive. You know, like when you just shrug off as a lame joke the rumor that you slept with half the football team. And this is all part of the suppression of speech you saw with the IRS.
I am not even arguing that Mr. Will doesn’t have a point. Some students will get caught up and punished for behavior that really ought not be punished, and that’s a concern.
I just note what and who he’s fighting for. Boorish assholes.