We cannot allow people - anyone, no matter what side they're on - threaten people or shut down legitimate speech they don't like. Full stop.

And that goes double for colleges where freedom of expression is supposed to be foundational.

if they don't want to.

She is free to say what she wants, but they don't have to give her an audience and a microphone.

That is all.

In other California news, a woman in Bakersfield threatened members of the City Council. Los Angeles Times, 4-15-2024, page B-1

A Kern County activist is facing years in jail after authorities charged her with 18 felony counts for allegedly making terrorist threats against the Bakersfield City Council, the latest civic body to be roiled by unrest amid calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Riddhi Patel, 28, who grew up in Bakersfield and works as the economic development coordinator for a local nonprofit, was arrested after public statements she made last week on the topic of a cease-fire and on metal detectors at City Hall.

Among her comments, Patel said the council members were such “horrible human beings” that “Jesus probably would have killed you himself.” Later, she expressed hope that oppressed people might “bring the guillotine.” She concluded her public statements by saying: “We’ll see you at your house. We’ll murder you.”

In response, Mayor Karen Goh at first calmly called for the next speaker to come to the lectern, and then paused and said: “Ms. Patel, that was a threat, what you said at the end. So the officers are going to escort you out and take care of that.”
On Friday, Patel appeared in court and tearfully pleaded not guilty. Neither she nor her representatives could be reached for comment.

I ask you — is this what you want at a civic event? For over 20 years I chaired commission meetings and nonprofit meetings and spoke at public events. In no case did anyone ever threaten my life or that of my family, despite the intensity of emotion that many brought to these events.

Back to Unversity events — Universities, public or private, are entitled to the peaceful execution of events such as graduations. Tens of thousands of people show up for graduations, among them small children who are relatives of the graduates. Under the circumstances, crowd control is a serious, serious issue.

As we saw with the Jan. 6 insurrection, disruptions are now planned on social media, and all I can say at this point is that it’s an intelligent use of administrative and law enforcement resources to take note.