As many of you already know, our May speaker was attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who spoke to us about censorship, primarily on college campuses, where one would expect there to be the least amount of censorship.

Censorship can be defined as the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are “offensive” to a person or a group. Censorship by the government is unconstitutional. However, when private individuals attempt to suppress words, images, or ideas, they are protected by the First Amendment. This can be a highly technical and very difficult area of constitutional law, and Harmeet provided vivid explanations and examples that made the issue easily understandable.

We also heard from Mike Wright, a UC Berkeley graduate who told us how a group of College Republicans was physically and verbally assaulted following the announcement of Donald Trump’s presidential victory in 2016. They sought protection and shelter inside a local restaurant, which was later the target of a student boycott by reason of having assisted the boys. The story was harrowing.

The event was planned as a dual membership drive and fundraiser for our group, and we were successful with respect to both.

Thank you so much, Karen Powers, for working so hard to bring Ms. Dhillon to SRWF.