A policy of tolerance — the intolerant excepted

It is time to take a firm stand in support of one of the most oppressed, most discriminated against, most despised and reviled minorities in this country.

Americans must demand recognition for those who are daily denied civil rights -- in the workplace where they are denied jobs and promotions, in the news and entertainment media where they are described with the most vile and vicious slurs and epithets, on high school and college campuses where they are given failing grades and ostracized simply for expressing their views.

They are denied their First Amendment rights, shouted off the stage. Their banners are destroyed and they are pelted with rocks and bottles.

But they have feelings, too. If you cut them, do they not bleed? If you call them names, are they not offended? They deserve protection under the growing body of hate crime laws and speech codes.

Yes, even bigots deserve civil rights. Declare from the rooftops that we will not tolerate any further intolerance of those who are intolerant of behavior they consider abhorrent.

That is why UNLV's 14-page "Policy on Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes" is so welcome. Campus administrators and the university Board of Regents should embrace the spirit of it.

A memo from the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Christine Clark reports, "On March 24, 2009, after 18 months of development, revision, vetting, and dialogue, the UNLV Policy on Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes was officially approved by President (David) Ashley and adopted by the UNLV campus." This new policy would further the goal of allowing bigots and bigot haters to live in harmony in an environment conducive to higher education and all inclusive.

University Chancellor Jim Rogers has found some niggling little flaws with the policy and asked for some touch-ups. President Ashley, who could not recall ever approving the policy, said he would appoint a task force to redraft it, placing its original architect in charge.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about this document. Some professors have expressed fear that it would be a means of enforcing political correctness -- which they say "classifies certain groups as victims in need of protection from criticism and others as oppressors (white, male, heterosexual) and believers feel that no dissent should be tolerated."

But the definition of bias in the policy is so clear: " 'Bias Incidents' refers to verbal, written, or physical acts of intimidation, coercion, interference, frivolous claims, discrimination, and sexual or other harassment motivated, in whole or in part, by bias based on actual or perceived race, ethnicity, color, religion, creed, sex (including gender identity or expression, or a pregnancy related condition), sexual orientation, national origin, military status or military obligations, disability (including veterans with service-connected disabilities), age, marital status, physical appearance, political affiliation, or on the basis of exercise of rights secured by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."

There you have it. You must not say or do anything about someone else exercising his First Amendment rights, except exercise your own.

By the bye, physical appearance includes "bodily condition or characteristics, manner or style of dress, and manner or style of personal grooming, including, but not limited to, hair style and beards."

So, there'll be no frivolous comments about aging, overweight, gray-haired white male veterans with handlebar moustaches and a proclivity for hats and boots.

I'm talking about the Rebels' mascot, of course.

With a policy like this in place we can all rest assured the First Amendment rights of bigots will be protected -- bigots like Lawrence Summers, who is now President Obama's chief economic adviser. He was drummed out as president of Harvard University a few years ago when he speculated that women might not have the same aptitude as men for science and math.

Under the new UNLV policy, all Summers would need do is call campus cops, and they'd have to take a report about his frivolous accusers.

Under the policy, if you turn in an English paper that rambles on for 14 pages, repeating lengthy phrases two and three times, and your professor says it reads like that refrigerator magnet version of Shakespeare, "To be or not be, those are the slings and arrows not dreamt of in your philosophy," call the campus cops, because, "Discrimination is illegal." The policy says so.

If you get an F while others get A's, that is discrimination. Look it up in the dictionary.

Intolerant bigots will not be tolerated, except their free speech rights.

Actually, forget creating an enforcement bureaucracy. Just embrace the concept.

Thomas Mitchell is editor of the Review-Journal and writes about the role of the press and the First Amendment. He may be contacted at 383-0261 or via e-mail at tmitchell@reviewjournal.com. Read his blog at lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell/