There was a time when liberals were great champions of free speech. They were a group known for fiercely defending the First Amendment while approaching issues with an open mind and always allowing for dissent.

Or at least that's what I'm told. You can excuse me for being a bit incredulous, because if classic liberals truly were staunch defenders of free speech, they seem to be a rapidly diminishing species. Or if they are still around — and I suspect they are — their presence sure hasn't been felt much lately. Instead, the left on today's university campuses has been hijacked by a decidedly free-speech-loathing faction, and events around the country in the last month demonstrate their frightening and growing influence better than ever.

The nadir of the trend, certainly in terms of publicity, came at Columbia University earlier this month. Members of the Minutemen immigration reform group, speaking in an auditorium at the behest of Columbia's College Republicans, were interrupted by protesters who stormed the stage, unfurled banners and refused to let speakers carry on with their presentation. Following the mini-riot that ensued, the protesters anointed themselves the sole arbiters of what speech is allowable on campus, justifying their actions by claiming, "The Minutemen are not a legitimate voice in the debate on immigration."

Trouncing on the rights of others to hold their own beliefs at Columbia is not exclusively the realm of hooligan students, however. The Ivy League school's administration also does its part to stifle viewpoints it doesn't like via the requirements it imposes on graduate students in the education department, who must display a "commitment to social justice" and recognize that "social inequalities are often produced and perpetuated through systematic discrimination and justified by societal ideology of merit, social mobility and individual responsibility."

In other words, if a student doesn't buy the politically correct notion that society is laden with inequity and deliberate discrimination, he or she can forget about becoming a teacher. Ironically, Columbia's qualifications condemn anyone displaying "merit, social mobility and individual responsibility," all indicators of ambition surely inherent in graduate students at an Ivy League institution.

If that isn't disturbing enough, just head west to Michigan, where the Wolverine State will decide whether to ban the use of racial preferences by the government — including public university admissions decisions — in a referendum this fall. The effort, called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) and modeled after similar legislation successfully enacted in California and Washington, has spawned the dubious anti-referendum group known as the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN for short.

Living up to its name (with the exception of civilized dialogue, which apparently is not a legitimate "means"), BAMN has specialized in silencing speakers who dare voice support for the referendum.

When the Michigan Board of Canvassers met to certify the measure for November's ballot, BAMN stormed the board's offices, jumping around and overturning tables. When Jennifer Gratz, the chief proponent of the referendum (and for you Supreme Court buffs, the plaintiff in the landmark admissions case Gratz v. Bollinger) spoke about MCRI at the University of Michigan earlier this year, BAMN was there to shout her down with chants of "fraud," "liar" and "racist," according to The Michigan Daily. (Ignore, at least for the sake of this article, the paradox of calling someone who seeks to end racial preferences a "racist"; instead, just focus on BAMN's dogged efforts to not let anyone dissent against its opinions.)

And when BAMN desires an occasional break from stifling the speech of MCRI-backers, they find other forums for their thuggery. Earlier this month, a conservative group at the University of Michigan held a speech calling for immigration reform, garnering the predictable visit from BAMN in the process. Hollering over the voice of the speaker, BAMN intended, as a member told The Michigan Daily, to "shut [the speech] down. They can't have that game here."

Finally, let us head further west to our home state of Wisconsin. The affront to free speech on campus here does not employ tactics as egregious as those in New York and Michigan, and in some ways the ordeal is quite silly.

Yet it's still troubling: a Marquette graduate student in the philosophy department recently became the center of controversy for a quote he posted on his office door by the humorist Dave Barry: "As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government."

The chairman of the philosophy department, James South, determined the quote to be "patently offensive" and ordered it removed. That he could arrive at such a conclusion about an innocuous satirical barb from a humorist espousing basic libertarian philosophy is astounding — indeed, it is a wonder Mr. South can function in society if such statements shock his conscience so much.

Nonetheless, Marquette is well within its rights to regulate what employees are allowed to post on their office doors. The problem is that the Jesuit university has no clear guidelines concerning what is and isn't acceptable, and furthermore, the philosophy student claims other department members have posted materials proclaiming political views on their doors without punishment.

Hence, Marquette is guilty of blatant viewpoint discrimination, disallowing certain speech solely because it runs counter to the progressive agenda.

And there you have it. A quick jaunt around a few states reveals far too many leftists on campuses — whether students or administrators — to be so arrogant about the correctness of their opinions that they see no need for dissent. It is intolerance, plain and simple, and for those who revere free speech rights, as classic liberals do, it is an attitude that is downright "patently offensive."

Ryan Masse ([email protected]) is the editorial board chairman of The Badger Herald.