Well, they did it. The San Francisco State University administration and students went ahead with a hearing against College Republicans who had the audacity to step on Hamas and Hezbollah flags during an anti-terrorism rally. Believe it or not, a public university in the United States of America actually put its students on trial for — among other things — desecrating the name of Allah. FIRE is all over the case , and a news story today gives us a first glimpse at the absurdity of the actual proceedings in the university “hearing.” As I think about the case, I can’t help but remember my one and only visit to SFSU’s campus. There to speak to a chapter of Students for Academic Freedom, the first thing I noticed when I approached the campus was the banging of drums. I could hear drums from hundreds of yards away, and when I came closer I heard amplified voices screaming in rage. I’m not sure what the students were protesting, but I did notice that the event (whatever it was) seemed to require liberal use of every kind of printed and spoken profanity. But no Islamic flags were harmed, so the protest was apparently acceptable. It will be very interesting to see how the kangaroo court eventually “rules.” But regardless of the outcome, the hearing should never have happened.