In the announcement by Gettysburg College, noted below by Gail Jarvis, that the Confederate flag "lynching" to beheld this weekend will be held indoors, the president of the college, Katherine Haley, demonstrates that she hasn't the foggiest idea of what the First Amendment to the Constitution means. She calls the "lynching" a "healing transformation" to some, and declares that "In a free and open society, all people have the right to express their views."
That's not the issue. All people do not have a right to have their views broadcast at other people's expense, in this case the tuition-paying parents and donors of Gettysburg College. The hate-crime "artist" John Sims is perfectly free to display his hateful, race-baiting trash-art on his own nickel, but the First Amendment does not give him guaranteed access to the budget and property of Gettysburg College, as its confused president apparently believes.
All people are perfectly within their rights to protest this use of college funds to the college's alumni, parents and donors. This is free speech, not "intimidation," as the college's president remarked in her announcement. This is so typical of the cowardly bureaucrats who preside over most of the nation's colleges and universities: As soon as they are caught squandering educational resources on such dubious things as Mr. Sims' hate-crime art they try to hide behind the First Amendment when in fact the real issue is their own lousy judgment.
