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Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Newsletter
Freedom Not Celebrated this Fourth of July at 'Red Alert' Schools
As our nation enjoys the holiday weekend and celebrates Independence Day, FIRE is reminded that many colleges and universities continue to disregard the fundamental rights immortalized by the First Amendment and promised in their own materials. The schools that are the worst of the worst when it comes to individual rights on campus get placed on FIRE's Red Alert list—and so far, a total of five schools have earned their spots. To learn more about these schools' violations of student and faculty rights, take a look at our Red Alert list. Let us remember our freedoms this Fourth of July!
Legacy in Tatters, Embattled VSU President Retires
Valdosta State University President Ronald M. Zaccari retires today, leaving behind an embarrassing legacy of contempt for his students' constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due process. Under Zaccari, Valdosta State University (VSU) earned the ignominious distinction of being just one of five schools on FIRE's Red Alert list, signifying VSU's status as one of the "worst of the worst" in the nation with regard to liberty on campus. Zaccari secured VSU's spot as the only public university on our Red Alert list by personally ordering the expulsion of student T. Hayden Barnes for engaging in protected political speech—an expulsion that was later overturned by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and is currently the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit. Zaccari also oversaw VSU's blatantly unconstitutional free speech zone, which limits free expression to just one tiny stage on the school's Main Campus comprising less than 1% of the school's total campus acreage. Zaccari's retirement comes six months earlier than he had originally planned. For students wishing to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free expression at Valdosta State University, however, Zaccari's retirement comes not a day too soon.
Colorado College Board of Trustees Backs School in Punishing Students for 'Violent' Parody
The Chair of Colorado College's (CC's) Board of Trustees has affirmed the school's actions in finding that student Chris Robinson and another student wishing to remain anonymous violated CC's "violence" policy for posting a flyer that parodied a flyer of the Feminist and Gender Studies program. In a letter to FIRE, Board of Trustees Chair David van Diest Skilling wrote that "the College acted correctly in their handling of the students' behavior" and that "there is no need for further action." FIRE continues to call on CC to remove the guilty verdict from the students' files immediately and to stand by its own promises of freedom of expression.
Recent Media Coverage
The Gazette, June 28, "Group scolds CC for free-speech violations," by Brian Newsome
The Phoneix, June 25, "The Muzzle Awards: Collegiate Division," by Harvey Silverglate
The Bulletin, June 25, "U. Of Chicago faculty members oppose Milton Friedman Institute," by William Mulgrew
The Huffington Post, June 24, "Maybe Harvard Thought It Was The 'Manifestly Illegal' Party?," by Greg Lukianoff
National Association of Scholars, June 19, "If I Ran the Zoo IV," by Todd Zywicki
More media coverage at thefire.org »
July 3, "Pressed Again on Free Speech Zone, Valdosta State Finally Responds," William Creeley
July 2, "University of Georgia's Broken Promises," Brian Mink
July 1, "Student Newspaper Editors Sue Armstrong Atlantic State University," Adam Kissel
July 1, "Speech Code of the Month: Delta State University," Samantha Harris
June 30, "Legacy in Tatters, Embattled VSU President Retires," William Creeley
Read The Torch at thefire.org »
Recent Multimedia Content
Video, Voices of Vision Part II
FIREside Chats, Episode 118: Adam Kissel at the "How Free is the University" Conference
FIREside Chats, Episode 117: Michael Meyer's Speaks to FIRE's Interns
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
Delta State's harassment policy provides that harassment occurs when the work or learning environment "is one that a reasonable person would objectively find hostile or abusive or one that the particular person who is the object of the harassment perceives to be hostile or abusive." Defining harassment on the basis of the perception of the allegedly harassed individual completely eliminates any semblance of objectivity in Delta State's harassment policy. In other words, harassment occurs when either a reasonable or an unreasonable person finds the environment to be hostile. This means that students at Delta State are at the mercy of the most sensitive members of the community—if they feel harassed, they have been harassed, no matter how unreasonable those feelings may be. Delta State's policy stands in stark contrast to applicable First Amendment law, which Delta State—as a public institution—is bound to uphold. Moreover, it is a moral outrage. Under this speech code, students at Delta State must tailor their expression to avoid offending those with the most tender sensibilities, a requirement that undoubtedly has a powerful chilling effect on expression at the university. Delta State's harassment policy undermines the entire purpose of a university, turning it into a place where people walk on eggshells rather than the marketplace of ideas it is supposed to be.
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