The University of Vermont has heard and rejected protests from two faculty groups over the broadcast of UVM sports on WVMT-AM, the Burlington home of Rush Limbaugh. The Faculty Senate and Faculty Women’s Caucus had asked Interim President John Bramley to break UVM’s contract with the station and seek another broadcast outlet. In his response, Bramley made a fundamentally spurious argument.

“We are a university and believe that the protection of free speech, however controversial or offensive, is important,” Bramley wrote.

“Indeed free speech and the right to express controversial ideas is the very basis of the tenure enjoyed by many of the faculty who are making the proposal,” Bramley wrote.

Free speech is a foundational principle of our society and of academia. But free speech has nothing whatsoever to do with this case. Rush Limbaugh has a constitutional right to freedom of speech, but he has no right to be broadcast on WVMT in Burlington. Nor does he have a right to be associated with University of Vermont sports.

No more than Ben Stein had a constitutional right to be UVM’s commencement speaker.  

After the jump: One simple step John Bramley could take RIGHT NOW.

Bramley’s argument is wrong. UVM is not supporting the free speech rights of Limbaugh or anyone else. The UVM deal takes money away from WVMT, which arguably weakens Limbaugh’s platform. The only way UVM is fostering Limbaugh’s freedom to be a misogynist is by associating itself with Limbaugh’s broadcast outlet, thus lending him a bit of second-hand credibility.

There are better arguments Bramley could have made. “We can’t break the contract” is an old stand-by, tough to argue with. “Lack of suitable alternatives” would carry quite a bit of weight; WVMT is the primary talk station in the Burlington market. Many popular stations wouldn’t want to disrupt their schedules to carry sports broadcasts that probably don’t draw much of an audience. Any stations willing to carry UVM sports might have marginal signals, or might not be willing to match WVMT’s price.

But those are practical arguments, not high-minded academic ones. The appeal to free speech sounds more Presidential. It just happens to be false.

If Bramley is unwilling to end the association with Limbaugh’s enabler, he should definitely ask WVMT to avoid airing promos for UVM sports during Limbaugh’s program. This is a simple thing to ask. And it would at least remove any direct, obvious tie between UVM and Limbaugh. Here in central Vermont, WSNO has been carrying delightfully few paid advertisements during Limbaugh, and filling the time with station promos — for other programs, and for WSNO sportscasts.

If the same thing is happening on WVMT, they may be airing a lot of UVM promos during Limbaugh. That would be bad for UVM’s image, and Bramley should take steps to prevent it.

One other thing he should do: get himself one of those pocket Constitutions, and read the frickin’ First Amendment.