Back in the 1960s, the top administrators at the University of California campus at Berkeley, decided that they no longer would benignly tolerate their students in their soliciting for funds as well as in the recruiting of members to what were perceived to be radical organizations, on campus. They therefore took the step to call in the campus police to place a graduate student under arrest for violating these conditions, of which, the upshot was that in the heyday of what would become civil unrest, protests against the Vietnam war and the like, is that the students rose up to protect not only that particular student's arrest, through the staging of a spontaneous sit down, but also made it their point to begin staging student protests, and eventually to initiate a student strike against the administration of Berkeley. The result of this student uprising was soon enough the victory of those students in achieving the relief on the restrictions of free speech on campus, as well as being left alone in regards to political activity on campus, by consent of those administrators.
While this was an important victory for free speech, and for therefore the freedom to express ideas outside the mainstream of America, it was to a very large extent, never really about true freedom of speech, but rather had a lot more to do, with those students being able to express their viewpoint, to the exclusion of other orthodox or conservative viewpoints. In other words, the campus revolt was never really about free speech, but really was about the students perception that they did not have a fair format to express what they believed to be of importance to them, of which such was considered by many outsiders to be radical viewpoints as well as unorthodox political views, and of which mainstream media had chosen for the most part to effectively ignore this dissenting voice. To the degree, that when it comes to free speech, that one side has clearly not had a fair opportunity to express their viewpoint and to propagate their beliefs to the public that they are trying to reach, it makes sense to thereby provide them with a wide avenue to do exactly that, especially as a means to make rectification for such being unfairly suppressed by the orthodoxy and media mouthpieces of the day.
However, as much as liberals may denigrate conservatives and their viewpoint, and vice versa, each side has an absolute legitimate right, in this land of freedom and liberty, to express what they desire to express, via their Constitutional right to free speech. This so indicates that so many of today's left leaning campuses, have chosen to deliberately silence all those that oppose their particular ideology, seemingly not recognizing that by silencing those others that have a fundamental right to express their opinions and viewpoints; that they are, in fact, propagating the belief that the only appropriate speech that matters, is that which is in harmony with their own ideals and beliefs, which does not make for a free and open society, but rather does that very opposite of such.
True freedom of speech, is never about each member of society having to march to the very same beat of the prevailing drum of the times, but rather consists of the open and healthy debate between people, which allows for the give and take of open conversation and communication, so that we as a people, can learn and grow from one another, and thereby produce a better whole from the diversity of the many.