To the editor:

The editorial “Freedom of speech?” on Friday the 13th read as if it should have been posted on April 1st.

There are two clear reasons the SAE controversy has not focused on freedom of speech. The first is that the members involved were expelled not for their speech, but for creating a hostile environment on their campus. They have the freedom of speech, but speech also has consequences, and institutions of higher education have an obligation to maintain environments that are non-discriminatory.

These students have the freedom to chant racial slurs; they do not have the freedom to discriminate based on race when leading campus-affiliated organizations, or the freedom to create hostile educational environments.

Second, your editorial erroneously discusses the SAE chant as only involving a racial slur. While it does involve an offensive slur, it also invokes racial violence calling for black men to be lynched before joining their privileged group.

The editorial board should be ashamed that this is the approach that they took, and should consider the effects on our community when our local paper appears to gloss over violent references to lynching as “politically incorrect” language.