Townhall.com::Jason Antebi, Occidental college, and free speech::By Be... http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/BenShapiro/2006/08/25/jason_ante... Email Address What's Hot | Search Login | About Us | Sitemap Blog | Talk Radio Online | Columnists | Your Opinion | The News | Photos | The Funnies | Books & Movies | Issues | Sign Up | Radio Schedule | Action Center | Home Mike Gallagher | Mary Katharine Ham | Hugh Hewitt | Michael Medved | Michael Barone | Bruce Bartlett | Tony Blankley | Kevin McCullough | Dennis Prager | More [+] Bill Bennett • Mike Gallagher • Dennis Prager • Michael Medved • Hugh Hewitt Make TH Your Homepage | Get Your Radio Columnists < Home ON THE BLOG NOW: Jason Antebi, Occidental Email It Updated at 9:34 AM college, and free speech Print It 10 for 10 By Ben Shapiro Friday, August 25, 2006 Take Action Updated: 9:21 AM 08/25/06 Send an email to Ben Shapiro Israel Won? Book Club Updated: 9:12 AM 08/25/06 Diversity in Action: Press Read Article & Comments (0) Trackbacks(0) Post Your Comments Finds Way to Praise Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism Updated: 2:04 AM 08/25/06 Jason Antebi can be offensive. There's no way around it. When Antebi Wonkette Joins the Great attended Occidental College, from 2000 to 2004, he ticked off many of his Pork Fight fellow students. Antebi was a conservative member of the Occidental Updated: 11:56 PM 08/24/06 Student Government and a Howard Stern-type disk jockey on the Hitchens on South America, Occidental student station. His political opponents, in a failed effort to The War on Drugs, The War With Islamic Fascism, The recall him from his student government position, called him a "racist" and war at Home, and the "anti-Semite" (Antebi is Jewish); his door was defaced with the words Presbyterians. (Yeah, It Was "You're a f---ing racist"; he was accused of "sexually harassing women." A Long Interview.) Updated: 10:15 PM 08/24/06 Antebi registered complaints with the Occidental administration; the Today's Opinion administration did nothing, telling him to deal with it on his own. So Antebi took to the airwaves to denounce two of his opponents in Mike Gallagher Is it time for "Sex Offender Island" particular. He did so with his usual gusto, calling one of his opponents "Vander Douche" and another "Sam the Bearded Feminist." Of course, Jonathan Garthwaite Can she see it in his eyes? this was the M.O. of his show, which the administration of Occidental knew -- participants in other aspects of the show included Occidental Alan Sears The curious case of NEA priorities President Ted Mitchell, Occidental Associate Dean of Students and Allison Kasic Back to the basics Director of Residence and Greek Life Rameen Talesh, and Occidental Dean of Admission Vince Cuseo. Roger Schlesinger A distant view of a serious situation The blowback was swift and harsh. The insulted students promptly filed sexual harassment charges through Occidental against Antebi. He was Thomas Sowell Race and economics unceremoniously fired from his disk jockey position, and the Student Government as a whole was dissolved. Mitchell sent out an e-mail Jonah Goldberg Wal-Mart drives Democrats batty demeaning Antebi. The Occidental General Counsel screamed slurs at Antebi in a hallway. Then the "impartial" Occidental administration found Townhall Columnists: Antebi guilty of sexual harassment and ordered him to apologize and undergo psychiatric counseling. The Talk About This Article Antebi refused to accept the punishment and sued under California's Leonard Law, which reads in relevant part, "(a) No private postsecondary Do you have something to say? Ads by Google educational institution shall make or enforce any rule subjecting any student to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of conduct that is Make your opinion heard! Sign up speech or other communication that, when engaged in outside the to post an opinion now. campus or facility of a private postsecondary institution, is protected from POST A MESSAGE READ A MESSAGE governmental restriction by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 2 of Article 1 of the California Constitution." Similar Articles Antebi's situation was satire and, therefore, legally protected under the First Amendment. The curious case of NEA priorities Jason Antebi, Occidental college, and free speech Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals determined that Antebi had no Political indoctrination seeping into private schools standing to file his suit. Their basis? One provision of the Leonard Law Criticism of evolution can't be silenced reads, "Any student enrolled in a private postsecondary institution that Sponge Cake Phil has made or enforced any rule in violation of subdivision (a) may Are academic elites communists? commence a civil action to obtain appropriate injunctive and declaratory Colleges for Jews to Avoid, Part I relief as determined by the court." This provision, the court concluded, means that a student must be enrolled at the college he is suing at the Don't think outside the college box time of the lawsuit in order to sue. Antebi graduated shortly before he College stupidity filed his lawsuit; therefore he could not file his lawsuit. Martin Luther Queen, Jr. This interpretation renders the Leonard Law meaningless. Under this interpretation, if a college wishes to avoid a lawsuit from a complaining student, they simply expel the student. The student is no longer "enrolled" at the college, and any violation of his First Amendment rights must be overlooked by the courts. If a student is expelled for stating that homosexuality is a sin, he has no recourse; if a student is expelled for stating that he opposes the war in Iraq, he has no recourse. Antebi is now appealing his case to the California Supreme Court. His allies include the ACLU and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Is Antebi often offensive? Yes. Have his rights been violated? Yes. As long as colleges quash free speech they find disadvantageous, colleges will never be institutions of higher learning. The same people 1 of 2 8/25/2006 9:53 AM Townhall.com::Jason Antebi, Occidental college, and free speech::By Be... http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/BenShapiro/2006/08/25/jason_ante... who quashed Antebi routinely quash diversity of thought. Vote on this Article Vote on It: Average Vote: Articles with Most Votes EMAIL IT PRINT IT TALK ABOUT IT FONT SIZE: A A A The Mortgage Minute Guy Ads by Google Hugh Hewitt says, “Trust RogerSchlesinger. I do and IN DEFENSE OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT thousands of my listeners over By: Patrick Hynes the past five years have as Hynes, a political consultant who is not well.” himself an evangelical, documents the ways www.MortgageMinuteGuy.com Unions stop Secret the Religious Right has been demonized in the last decade.Join American Compass and get Ballot your copy now! American Compass Book Club Workers deserve Secret Ballot vote No IN MORTAL DANGER Get the latest books from By: Tom Tancredo today’s top conservative Secret Ballot is union tyranny Take uncontrolled immigration, add a authors. Become a member of multiculturalist refusal to encourage American Compass, the freeworkplace.org conservative alternative. assimilation, and you have a prescription for www.AmericanCompass.com national disaster. Join American Compass and get your copy now! Advertise on this site Search: TownHall Blogs Columns Audio All Top Searches: rss | August 22 Iran | yoni Contact Us: Townhall.com About Us | Become a Partner | Advertise | Privacy Policy | Site Map 1901 N. Moore Street | Suite 205 | Arlington, VA 22209 Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved. Terms under Phone: 703-294-6046 which this service is provided to you Email Address: [email protected] 2 of 2 8/25/2006 9:53 AM.