June 13, 2003

The Free-Speech Follies

By STANLEY FISH

Sure there are free-speech issues on campus -- just not that many

The modern American version of crying wolf is crying First Amendment. If you want to burn a cross on a black family's lawn or buy an election by contributing millions to a candidate or vilify Jerry Falwell and his mother in a scurrilous "parody," and someone or some government agency tries to stop you, just yell "First Amendment rights" and you will stand a good chance of getting to do what you want to do.

In the

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