Excerpt:
Even before Dutch politician Geert Wilders delivered his address at Temple University this week, in which he warned students that a "stealth jihad" was stifling discussion of radical Islam, student groups and Temple faculty administrators had collaborated to confirm the urgency of his message that free speech is under assault in modern academia.
Indeed, Wilders's speech, which was part of the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week campaign sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, almost didn't take place. Although Wilders was invited to Temple by a student group, Temple University Purpose, other student groups tried to cancel his appearance. Ultimately, they did not succeed. But the difficulty of bringing Wilders to Temple, as well as the abrupt ending to his appearance due to student invective and interruptions, spoke volumes about the severely restricted range of expression on college campuses.
Opposition to Wilders began before he even set foot on campus. But rather than challenge Wilders's ideas, or even accurately describe them, student groups demanded that they should not even be heard. Thus, the Student Senate at Temple passed a resolution denouncing Wilders for his "intolerable, disgraceful and prejudiced slandering of the Islamic faith" and urged the university to shut down the event. Another student leader, Megan Chialastri of the campus group All Sides, opposed giving Wilders the opportunity to present his side of the argument because that's "just the way people feel on this campus." Even the Temple University College Republicans, who initially co-sponsored Wilders's appearance, in the end joined the chorus insisting that he should not be allowed to have his say.