THERE’S NO IQ TEST TO BE A COLLEGE PRESIDENT: Public university president retracts statement that ‘hate speech’ is punishable ‘by law’ – sort of.

Nicholls State University President Jay Clune warned the community earlier this month that the taxpayer-funded institution would punish those who commit “hate speech” with the “swiftest, harshest action allowed by law.”

He went even further, implying it was illegal for any member of the community to speak or act “in a manner that does not support our values.” Not just violate those values – failure to support them.

Clune got a warning last week from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education for promising to violate the First Amendment rights of the entire community. The civil liberties group said he could “expose the university to needless civil liability” if NSU tried to enforce his sweeping directive.

Without admitting he was wrong, Clune told local newspaper Houma Today that he wasn’t speaking in legal terms when he made the unconstitutional threat and falsely claimed the public university could take legal action against students for nonthreatening speech.

I’m tired of taxpayer-funded apparatchiks claiming authority to say what “our values” are and demanding that everyone abide by them.

Plus: “Clune’s sort-of walkback makes no sense, according to a FIRE blog post Tuesday. ‘After all, it was his own email to students on June 6 that promised the swiftest and harshest action allowed ‘by law’ for offensive speech,’ wrote Bill Rickards, communications coordinator.”