PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Newsletter
FIRE Launches 'Speech Code of the Month' Widget
Every month, FIRE selects a college or university with a particularly egregious speech code as our Speech Code of the Month. The program has been very successful: since its inception two years ago, nine schools have changed their policies as a result of being named Speech Code of the Month. Today, we are turning up the heat on censorship even more with the introduction of our Speech Code of the Month Widget. By adding the widget to your blog or website, you can help expose these repressive speech codes by sharing this information with your readers. And if you send us a link to your site with the widget posted on it and your mailing address, we'll send you a free FIRE mug as well. For directions on how to add the widget to your website, click here.
University Nixes Naughty Faxes
FIRE's speech codes database, Spotlight: The Campus Freedom Resource, catalogs the myriad ways in which universities restrict their students' free speech rights. The sheer number and extent of these restrictions is disheartening to see for an organization so deeply committed to individual rights. Every so often, however, we encounter a speech code so ludicrous that it introduces a little levity into our otherwise serious work. Take, for example, the sexual harassment regulations at Indiana University Southeast. IU Southeast maintains a laundry list of behaviors "related to sexual harassment," including "suggestive or insulting sounds," "sexist jokes or humor," and "gender specific insults or comments." All of these restrictions are constitutionally suspect, since most speech falling into those categories is entirely constitutionally protected. But it was this example that really caught our eye: "faxes sexual in nature." Really? Are naughty faxes a common enough problem to warrant being added to a list of supposedly harassing behaviors? Unless something very strange is afoot at IU Southeast, the answer is likely no. And yet, a consensus of supposedly reasonable administrators decided to include this in the policy. We would love to have been present for the discussion at that meeting. (Just like we would love to have been at the meeting at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh where they decided to ban "staring at a man's derriere"…we've always wanted to know, did they run through a list of synonyms for rear end before settling on "derriere"? Was a vote taken?) Here at FIRE, we often refer to university speech codes as "laughably unconstitutional," but these policies take that phrase to a whole new level.
Harvard's Weak Response Fails to Address Censorship of Party Name
Last week, FIRE issued a press release detailing Harvard University's recent censorship of a party proposed by two student groups due to the party's name, "Barely Legal." Specifically, Resident Dean Sharon Howell of the university's Adams House threatened to reverse the residence hall's initial acceptance of the party proposed by the Latino Men's Collective and Fuerza Latina unless the party's name was changed. Concerned about this coercive censorship, FIRE wrote to Harvard last month, reminding the school of its binding commitments to free speech and asking for a reaffirmation of such. Harvard's response, penned by Associate Attorney Bradley A. Abruzzi, was a disappointing additional threat to freedom of expression. In a letter dated May 30, Abruzzi argued that the threat to cancel the party was "appropriate and in full accord with Harvard's free speech policy and First Amendment principles" because use of Adams House facilities is "purely discretionary" and any event thus allowed "necessarily carries an endorsement of the event by the House." Abruzzi also argued that the House administration's requirement that the party name be changed did not constitute "punitive action" because "[n]either Adams House nor the College undertook to prevent the student groups from following through with the party, which the groups were free to hold elsewhere." Needless to say, Abruzzi's letter did little to allay FIRE's concerns. In response, we wrote to Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust on Monday to point out the flaws in Abruzzi's response.
Recent Media Coverage
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, "Free-speech award goes to Penn professor," by Susan Snyder
The Huffington Post, June 11, "California Über Alles?," by Greg Lukianoff
Southeast Texas Record, June 11, "Legally Speaking: If You Can't Teach 'Em, Sue 'Em," by John Browning
More media coverage at thefire.org »
June 18, "University Nixes Naughty Faxes," Samantha Harris
June 18, "Tune in to FIRE Discussing TCC, Harvard Cases Tonight," Emily Guidry
June 17, "In California Legislature, Progress on Bill Barring Retaliation against Student Newspaper Advisors," William Creeley
June 17, "FIRE Launches 'Speech Code of the Month' Widget," Samantha Harris
June 16, "FIRE Welcomes Brandon Stewart," Greg Lukianoff
Read The Torch at thefire.org »
Recent Multimedia Content
Video, Voices of Vision Part II
FIREside Chats, Episode 116: Adam Kissel on NRA News
FIREside Chats, Episode 115: FIRE's Case at Tarrant County College
More multimedia at thefire.org »
2008
The mission of FIRE is to defend and sustain individual rights at America's colleges and universities.
Speech Code of the Month
Tufts University already has the dubious distinction of a spot on FIRE's Red Alert List, which is reserved for colleges and universities that display the utmost disregard for their students' individual rights. Tufts earned its Red Alert status after finding last spring that The Primary Source, a conservative student newspaper, violated the school's harassment policy by publishing two satirical articles mocking affirmative action and Islamic fundamentalism. It is that vague and overbroad harassment policy that has now earned Tufts the ignominy of being named Speech Code of the Month for June 2008.
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