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OPINION: Free speech prevailed despite student’s claims about ‘violent rhetoric’

An Eastern Michigan University student diligently tried to force a professor to remove pro-life posters from her office window this winter.

However, free speech at the public institution prevailed.

Alice Rainville, a health sciences professor, is still displaying the posters in her office. One reads, “Face It … Abortion Kills A Person!!” alongside the photo of a baby, and the other says, “Stand Up for Religious Freedom,” The Eastern Echo reports.

“That’s my faculty office, meaning I can put up what I want…” Rainville said. “No one can take away your right to express your viewpoint. In fact, a college campus is a great place to explore viewpoints and find your beliefs.”

But graduate student Ben Kelly disagrees. He described the posters as “violent” and “upsetting on a human level” in an interview with the student newspaper.

“[The posters] use violent rhetoric and spread misinformation. These things are not facts,” Kelly said.

Kelly said he first noticed the posters in January and took his complaint to Andrea Zakrajsek, the associate dean of the School of Health Sciences, according to the report.

However, Zakrajsek told him that the posters are allowed because “as a public institution, EMU must abide by free speech policies.”

“At this time, EMU faculty/employees have the right to post political content in their offices and in their office windows,” the dean stated, according to the report:

Unsatisfied with this response, Kelly approached Chief DEI Officer Dwight Hamilton, explaining that these posters were more than just a statement. …

Kelly’s concern reached to people who have had abortions as well as the students in Rainville’s classes.

“This promotes unhealthy relationships between students and professors,” Kelly said. “I wouldn’t respect my professor or take them seriously if I knew they were displaying these posters…they have a discriminatory nature toward anyone who has had to experience this.”

Hamilton heard Kelly’s worries, and looked over the laws with the eyes of a formal civil rights attorney.

Hamilton said that based on his research, hate speech is still protected under freedom of speech. This instance cannot be interpreted as harassment, because it is not pointed at any one individual. Hamilton also said that challenging the posters could draw unnecessary attention to the university concerning the abortion issue.

Kelly then shared his experience with The Eastern Echo.

Apparently, Kelly never reached out to Rainville to discuss the matter. According to the Echo:

Though Kelly and Rainville have not met in person, Kelly said he would like to ask Rainville a question: “If a person who previously had an abortion saw this, what do you want them to think? What is your hope for them?”

When Rainville was asked this question, she said, “I would hope that they get the help that they deserve and that they need. All humans have rights. There are programs for women who have had abortions and men who haven’t had a say in the abortions their girlfriends have.”

Kelly described himself to the newspaper as an abortion and women’s rights advocate. His efforts suggest he believes that there’s only one acceptable opinion on the issue, and those who advocate for the opposing position should be silenced.

It’s hard to blame the student alone for this type of thinking. For years, universities across the country have offered classes that teach students to become activists for leftist positions on abortion, racial issues, and climate change. Meanwhile, outside traditional evangelical Protestant and Catholic institutions, one would be hard pressed to find any classes instructing students in pro-life advocacy.

It’s yet another example of how higher education has taught students what to think rather than how to think by passing off opinions as truth and open debate as destructive.

Fortunately, we live in a country where the right to free speech is still preserved.

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