A report released by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s “Hate Response Team” shows that 14% of incidents of “hate speech” are either fake or frivolous.

What makes that number laughable is that many of the other hate speech incidents are anything but – except if you're a hysterically sensitive snowflake who can't stand speech you disagree with.

Campus Reform:

Meanwhile, of the reports that were legitimate, students complained about everything from images of the crucifix to a blog post about life on campus as a white student.

According to The La Crosse Tribune, one student reported feeling unsafe when discovering a Campus Crusade for Christ poster on campus, claiming that the cross represents “oppression and hate of the LGBT+ community.”

Two other students turned in one of their peers for publishing a blog post about life as a white student, calling his post offensive to students of color, and even saying that the proximity of the author’s off-campus residence made them feel unsafe living on campus.

After the infamous “chalkening” had spread to UW La Crosse’s campus, several students reported the incident to the Hate Response Team, whose report shows a drastic increase in activity over the few days it occurred—18 reports in just three days.

The school had initially responded to the chalkening with a Facebook post that called it “contradictory to our mission as a university,” but later deleted the post after facing national criticism.

In most cases, students who reported instances of bias refused contact with the Hate Response Team, with only 34 of 192 reporters requesting contact from a Hate Response Team advocate.

Of the 192 reports, 56 of them were simply classified as a “statement,” which the Hate Response Team describes as “not only words that are spoken, but also instances where hateful messages are conveyed using sign language, gestures, or similar forms of direct interpersonal communication.”

But the Hate Response Team continues to defend itself as being consistent with the First Amendment rights of students, arguing in its report that “while the First Amendment protects free expression of ideas that are sometimes offensive, that does not mean the university is powerless to respond.”

Note their definition of free speech; “sometimes offensive”?  Well, no.  With very few exceptions, all speech is protected – at least, under the First Amendment most of us remember.  And folks, you don’t get to decide what's “offensive” and what isn’t.

And yes, if you take the definition of free speech literally, the university is, indeed, “powerless to respond” – or at least it should be.  It remains a running joke that these “Hate Response Teams” can actually claim to be in favor of free speech while in the process of destroying it.  How someone’s brain can compartmentalize a concept to that extent is amazing.

It remains to be seen whether these “Hate Response Teams” – and the entire community of fascist activists looking to suppress opinions they don't agree with – is a transient event in the history of higher education or whether it will be a permanent blot on the once proud tradition of allowing all opinions equal protection.