Don't Say These Words at Bucknell
By Evan Coyne Maloney
28 September 2005 @ 11:40AM

Two words. At Bucknell University, that's all it takes to get dragged into the President's Office for a half-hour discussion of word choice. And these aren't offensive words, at least not out here in the real world. But Bucknell apparently has a different definition of what is and is not acceptable.

On August 29th, the Bucknell University Conservatives Club sent out a campus-wide e-mail announcing an upcoming speaker: Major John Krenson, who had been in Afghanistan "hunting terrorists." Those two words--"hunting terrorists"--resulted in three students being called to Bucknell's Office of the President by Kathy Owens, the Executive Assistant to the President.

According to the students, when they arrived at the President's Office for the meeting, Ms. Owens held up a print-out of the offending e-mail and said "we have a problem here," telling the students that the words "hunting terrorists" were offensive. For the next half-hour, the three students were given a lecture on inappropriate phrasing.

(When contacted, Ms. Owens did acknowledge that the meeting took place, but refused to answer any questions about what transpired. She did not deny the account of the students.)

Last year, while collecting footage for my upcoming film Indoctrinate U, I noticed that the campus was plastered with flyers that screamed "vagina" in large block letters. Although some people might find these flyers offensive, it is protected speech at Bucknell--as it should be--but apparently the phrase "hunting terrorists" is not.

(Perhaps someone should remind Bucknell's administrators that the American soldiers who are "hunting terrorists" are fighting the very sort of misogynistic thugs who would gladly stone a woman to death for talking about her vagina in public.)

For years, Bucknell has denied that it has a speech code, the speech-stifling regulations that many schools use to punish political speech they don't like. But if Bucknell isn't in the business of restricting free speech, then why did these students have to spend 30 minutes listening to criticisms of the phrase "hunting terrorists"?

Most students I know would prefer not to spend their time defending their speech in front of highly-placed university administrators. By taking this action, the Bucknell administration is sending a signal to students: say only those things we approve of, or we will hassle you. The long-term effect will be that students will think twice before engaging in political speech that they know will be unpopular with the administration.

As an alumnus of Bucknell, this is all very depressing. Even more so because the recent appointment of Brian C. Mitchell as the new University President was met with optimism from students who have grown tired of fighting the constant battles against campus political correctness. Let's hope this incident is just a minor misstep in a new administration, and not a sign of things to come.

brain-terminal.com/posts/2005/09/28/forbidden-words-at-bucknell

How about Bite me B****.......it's called free speech.

The world has gone to shit, yet again.

There's a terrorist hunting permit on my snowboard.

Quoted: Don't Say These Words at Bucknell By Evan Coyne Maloney 28 September 2005 @ 11:40AM Two words. At Bucknell University, that's all it takes to get dragged into the President's Office for a half-hour discussion of word choice. And these aren't offensive words, at least not out here in the real world. But Bucknell apparently has a different definition of what is and is not acceptable. On August 29th, the Bucknell University Conservatives Club sent out a campus-wide e-mail announcing an upcoming speaker: Major John Krenson, who had been in Afghanistan "Killing useless peices of shit." Those two words--"Killing useless peices of shit"--resulted in three students being called to Bucknell's Office of the President by Kathy Owens, the Executive Assistant to the President. According to the students, when they arrived at the President's Office for the meeting, Ms. Owens held up a print-out of the offending e-mail and said "we have a problem here," telling the students that the words "Killing useless peices of shit" were offensive. For the next half-hour, the three students were given a lecture on inappropriate phrasing. (When contacted, Ms. Owens did acknowledge that the meeting took place, but refused to answer any questions about what transpired. She did not deny the account of the students.) Last year, while collecting footage for my upcoming film Indoctrinate U, I noticed that the campus was plastered with flyers that screamed "Kathy Owens is full of shit" in large block letters. Although some people might find these flyers offensive, it is protected speech at Bucknell--as it should be--but apparently the phrase "Killing useless peices of shit" is not. (Perhaps someone should remind Bucknell's administrators that the American soldiers who are "Killing useless peices of shit" are fighting the very sort of misogynistic thugs who would gladly stone a woman to death for talking about her vagina in public.) For years, Bucknell has denied that it has a speech code, the speech-stifling regulations that many schools use to punish political speech they don't like. But if Bucknell isn't in the business of restricting free speech, then why did these students have to spend 30 minutes listening to criticisms of the phrase "Killing useless peices of shit"? Most students I know would prefer not to spend their time defending their speech in front of highly-placed university administrators. By taking this action, the Bucknell administration is sending a signal to students: say only those things we approve of, or we will hassle you. The long-term effect will be that students will think twice before engaging in political speech that they know will be unpopular with the administration. As an alumnus of Bucknell, this is all very depressing. Even more so because the recent appointment of Brian C. Mitchell as the new University President was met with optimism from students who have grown tired of fighting the constant battles against campus political correctness. Let's hope this incident is just a minor misstep in a new administration, and not a sign of things to come. brain-terminal.com/posts/2005/09/28/forbidden-words-at-bucknell

There I fixed it.

Who goes to Bucknell?

And you see why the west will eventually loose.  Our higher education is hell bent on instilling the values that will cause our culture to be destroyed in the clash of culture.

Quoted: And you see why the west will eventually loose.  Our higher education is hell bent on instilling the values that will cause our culture to be destroyed in the clash of culture.

I disagree.
We will not lose to foreigners, we will lose when these bastages, these statist left-wingers are elected to office.

But have hope - we will not lose then, though it will be a long road out of darkness.

Quoted: Who goes to Bucknell?

BUCC_guy here on arfcom is a student there, belongs to the conservative club that got into hot water over this.

Quoted: I disagree. We will not lose to foreigners, we will lose when these bastages, these statist left-wingers are elected to office. But have hope - we will not lose then, though it will be a long road out of darkness.

A really good book on the subject is "The West's Last Chance" by Tony Blankly.  It lays out pretty well how even limited foreign attacks and a growing weakness western will, will lead to a slow but eventual subjugation of the West.  

As I remember seeing on a T-shirt:  "Liberals are always trying trying to inflame the culture war.  They seem to forget who has all the guns."

I work at a university, and have seen the College Republicans heckled simply for passing out invitations to a meeting.  At the same time, there were hundreds of students gathered around a "Free Palestine" rally, cheering them.  The protesters were standing in the middle of the campus with mock AK47's and muslim ninja-gear.  About half of them had "Che" shirts, as they always do.

I can't get involved in that stuff because I'll lose my job, but you can imagine what was going through my head.  One of the guys at work wears a "Club Gitmo" shirt, but nobody seems to know what it means!

I remember going on the Bucknell campus tour while looking for colleges during my Junior year...The campus seemed very nice, but the administration seemed a little oppressive and overly PC...I guess I was right!

<---  BUCC = Bucknell U. Conservatives Club.



This whole incident is just plain stupid... but we've gotten into worse trouble.


- BG

Quoted: I remember going on the Bucknell campus tour while looking for colleges during my Junior year...The campus seemed very nice, but the administration seemed a little oppressive and overly PC...I guess I was right!

You don't know the half of it...

Knowing my level of patience for BS, I probably would've made it through 3 minutes of Owens' speech, then told her to FOAD, then walked.

How about "wasting ragheads"?

Quoted: How about "wasting ragheads"?

Phrasing like this is the reason I am not in charge of our publication...


- BG