CAMPUS

April 21st, 2009

Hear No Offense, See No Offense, Speak No Offense

At San Jose State University, you can’t “publicly [tell] offensive jokes.” That’s according to their speech code, which just garnered them FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month award.

But that’s not all. What qualifies as an “offensive joke”? By the speech code’s words, whatever the aggrieved party wants.

I am not making this up. Though if I were trying to come up with a better picture of absurdity, I’m not sure I could.

For this, SJSU deserves not only FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month, but a lawsuit. One in which the university must remain silent while the judge tries its case from the viewpoint of whoever they have offended.

Posted in Blog
By Christina Miller

April 16th, 2009

No Freedom of Speech at UMass Amherst

I previously wrote about a terrible case of newspaper theft at UMass Amherst, where copies of the conservative paper, the Minuteman, were stolen right in front of police. The police and administration did nothing to stop or punish the theft, apparently seeing nothing wrong with suppressing free speech.

Well, the story keeps getting worse. FIRE reports that the Student Government Association (SGA) at UMass Amherst, acting with blatant disregard for the First Amendment, has threatened to shut down the paper unless it apologizes to the woman who stole its issues. (She was mocked in the issue in question – apparently the impetus for her juvenile actions.) On top of that, the SGA refused to hear a resolution put forward by a student senator that would rescind the illegal action. The senator was then removed by police after he protested the SGA’s violation of its own bylaws (not to mention the Constitution).

Posted in Blog
By CJ Ciaramella

April 2nd, 2009

Video of Newspaper Theft at UMass Amherst

A YouTube video has been posted of the newspaper theft at UMass Amherst that I wrote about yesterday. Check it out after the jump:

Posted in Blog
By CJ Ciaramella

March 11th, 2009

Pomona Apologizes For Trampling Student Rights

Pomona college has apologized for and reversed its embarrassing decision to ban two students from campus for allegedly “disrupting” a public discussion on abortion. In truth, the students merely videotaped the meeting and asked questions, but two Pomona deans summarily decided that their actions constituted intimidation and harassment. In addition to being banned from campus, the students were also warned that they might be charged with invasion of privacy and were ordered to hand over their videotape.

Of course, this is all absurd, and it didn’t take long for Pomona to realize it was facing a PR disaster. As FIRE notes (see link above), this victory is in large part due to the writing of Charles Johnson, a member of the Collegiate Network:

Posted in Blog
By CJ Ciaramella

March 8th, 2009

And the Winner Is…

Last week the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE as it’s known in the biz,
awarded the University of Tulsa its Speech Code of the Month citation.

Apparently University of Tulsa, which is a private school, promises its students all the free speech rights of a public university. Those of you who go to public universities know what a ringing endorsement that is. And Tulsa follows through on this promise, with a speech code that looks innocuous at first but is really so broadly construed that just about anything can—and does—become abuse.

Good work FIRE for once again pointing out how academia, which is supposed to be about exchanging ideas, is really more about exchanging ideas approved by The Establishment than anything else.

Posted in Blog
By Christina Miller

January 2nd, 2009

FIRE 2008 Wrap-up

The FIRE blog has extensive wrap-ups of all its major happenings of 2008, including its biggest cases, worst offenders and top speech codes. There’s too many posts to link to individually, but check it out. The entries are all very well referenced and extensive. 2008 was a rough year for civil liberties in college, but consequently FIRE is bigger and busier than ever.

Also, you can now follow FIRE on Twitter.

Posted in Blog
By CJ Ciaramella

December 15th, 2008

FIRE Report Shows Widespread Restriction of Free Speech on Campuses

Today FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) released a report on the state of free speech in American universities, finding that 74 percent of the 364 campuses studied significantly limit speech on campus. (Full PDF of the report here, summary of findings here.)

Posted in Blog
By CJ Ciaramella