[gpm]

Ask yourself "what part of this allows them to prevent rock concerts during exams in the exam halls", it's only the parts that you seem to wish they would remove. I think we can both agree, that MIT does need the power to prevent rock concerts during exams in the exam halls.

[andrew_]

Either there's some obscure news I'm not up to speed on, or this is one of the most bananas straw men I've run across.

[gpm]

The exact scenario was inspired by a "prank" the engineers pull off on new students at the university I went to every year (more along the lines of a spontaneous musical than a rock concert, but same effect). The broader point was that there's tons of "expression" that you need time/place/manner restrictions against for completely content legitimate, the exact example wasn't important.

It's not a straw man at all... a straw man argument is arguing against something that someone else didn't said, I'm directly arguing that the terms the person I responded to suggested aren't needed, are in fact needed. It is sort of an argumentum ad absurdum, but that's a valid form of argument, and the absurdness of the example isn't necessary so it's only sort of one.

If you want less absurd examples, they need to be able to regulate the expression of telling people answers during tests (time/place), the expression of making loud noises all night in dorm rooms (place/manner), the "expression" of plagarizing someone else's paper and calling it your own (directly incompatible with...), etc.

Edit: Found a video for y'all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyHQLyZUuM

[Throwawayaerlei]

MIT's equivalent was and may still be "freshman shower night," where students would be forcibly abducted from their dorm rooms and thrown into a running shower the night before the first mid-term exams were held for core math and physics courses.

[phone[phone]]

That sounds absolutely batshit - "don’t you dare say any wrongthink, but battery is a-okay if it’s a time honored tradition".

Saying "fuck the president" is a time honored tradition that doesn’t batter anybody, but I doubt that will be protected.

[raxxorrax]

It is a strawman. A rock concert is not expressing an idea, on the contrary it limits the ability for others to express themselves.

[908B64B197]

> I think we can both agree, that MIT does need the power to prevent rock concerts during exams in the exam halls.

Sure, maybe at party schools.

The culture around MIT might surprise you. They take exams and learning quite seriously.