Mankato's campus preacher debate

Minnesota State University Mankato associate professor James P. Dimock in Inside Higher Ed praises students who opposed an anti-gay visiting preacher by walking into his service and holding up signs with names and photos of gay youth who have killed themselves this year after bullying incidents.

"The answer to speech you don't like isn't to suppress it. The remedy is to speak back. That is what those kids did and why I am proud of them. They could have gone to the university administration and fought to keep this guy off campus -- a fight they would probably have lost. But instead they answered speech with speech. I support what they did 100 percent and I think that they should be a model for how people should respond to these preachers everywhere."

But the preacher has objected to the disruption. Sophomore Tara Mitchell told the Star Tribune:

"He made it very clear we can't bring signs. But we have other plans in store."

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