State Sen. Kim Thatcher has what she says is a plan to help protect free speech and ensure student safety on college campuses.

It involves expelling students.

Thatcher, a Keizer Republican, deserves points for originality sort of. The qualifier is needed because one suspects that Thatchers main goal is to yank Democrats chains, given that her bill has less chance of passing the Oregon Legislature than a resolution honoring President Trump.

Thatchers Senate Bill 540 would require community colleges and public universities to expel students found criminally guilty of violent rioting.

Thatcher says she is a huge supporter of the First Amendment and that this is a free speech issue.

Free speech protects us all and ensures we can exercise the critical right to share our truth., she said by way of explanation. Violence is not free speech. My bill will help protect students who are peacefully protesting from bad apples in the crowd who exploit peaceful protests to engineer violent riots.

Thatcher is not an attorney she owns a highway construction firm so her bill glides past several issues. These include the states legal definition of a riot, which requires that there are a minimum of six people acting violently.

Theres also the difficulty of convicting someone of rioting.

Portland police arrested almost 20 people after a January protest turned violent but later dropped charges against all but four of them. It is not clear if any of the four remaining people are 1) still facing charges and 2) students at state colleges or universities.

Then theres the question of whether the Legislature really wants to get into the business of writing student conduct codes for the state schools, which are unlikely to greet the prospect warmly.

Thatcher has had her fun. She and her colleagues need to settle down now to the serious business of dealing with the states massive budget deficit, figuring out how to fund health care if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, and what to do about Oregons dismal high school graduation rate.

More Editorial articles

See the original post here:

'Protecting' free speech - The Register-Guard