Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Fresno State Students for Life group promoted their cause with chalk messages on university sidewalks but not everyone appreciated those messages including Professor Greg Thatcher.  So Thatcher took some of his students and wiped them away. Professor Thatcher argued that "free speech is free speech in the free speech area" and that "college campuses are not free speech areas." Irony of ironies in that a guy whose livelihood depends on free speech wasn't willing to afford that privilege to others. Thatcher was sued by the student group and he lost in court. The judge ordered him to pay $26,000 in legal fees and attend training on free speech. This was  a major victory for free speech on our college campuses, but it was also an education for this college professor who didn't understand that free speech applies to everyone.