Truman State University reportedly also had concerns about the 'reputational risk' of the proposed group being associated with PETA.
KATHERINE TIMPF: ‘Truman State University has rejected a student’s request to start an animal-rights club — due, in part, to worries about the “emotional risk” of potentially “hostile” confrontations. The school reportedly also had concerns about the “reputational risk” of the proposed group being associated with PETA, according to a release published by the pro-free-speech group, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
“We understand that many people don’t like the idea of animal rights, but we still deserve the same platform as the other groups on campus,” the student, Naomi Mathew, said, according to FIRE. FIRE has submitted a letter to the university’s president, Susan L. Thomas, demanding that she confirm Mathew’s application for the club before Dec. 20 — or else the organization will take legal action…
A college is supposed to be a place where its students — the vast majority of them adults, by the way — learn, grow, and prepare for the real world. An invaluable part of intellectual (and personal) growth comes from having the freedom to express your own ideas, and to engage with the ideas of others. Universities should be encouraging this, and certainly not actively discouraging it the way that Truman State has been doing’. SOURCE…
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