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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
Institutional Disharmony at IUPUI
Keith John Sampson has received a letter from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Chancellor Charles R. Bantz apologizing for the poor treatment he received at the hands of the university. In the letter, Bantz reaffirms that the university's Affirmative Action Office was wrong to conclude that Sampson's act of reading a book during his work breaks constituted racial harassment. Bantz further states that he now considers the matter resolved. However, university relations officials at IUPUI have made recent public statements to the effect that the harassment finding against Sampson stemmed from other, undisclosed conduct, thus preventing the matter from being truly resolved. While Bantz's letter constitutes progress on the part of IUPUI, the public smearing of Sampson remains unacceptable.
FIRE Completes First Campus Freedom Network Conference
FIRE's Campus Freedom Network hosted its first annual Summer Conference, "Free Speech vs. Speech Codes: Reclaiming Your Rights on Campus," on June 26-28 in Philadelphia. Forty-eight students from across the country listened to some of the nation's foremost experts on free speech, due process, and religious liberty on campus, including journalist John Leo, FIRE co-founder Harvey Silverglate, Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Steve Aden, professor Derek Shaffer of Stanford Law School, professor and author KC Johnson of Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney. The conference was a resounding success and students returned to their campuses invigorated and determined to reclaim their rights.
FIRE Calls on Brandeis to Resolve Faculty Revolt
Given the unprecedented revolt of faculty and students at Brandeis University, FIRE has called on President Jehuda Reinharz to rescind the ill-conceived finding of guilt against Professor Donald Hindley in order to restore order and Brandeis University's good name. This revolt has involved multiple unanimous faculty resolutions against the administration, faculty reports demonstrating that Brandeis administrators violated Hindley's academic freedom and due process rights, the withdrawal of faculty support for the school's harassment policy, the suspension of hearing new faculty grievances, and withering public attention. The faculty is rightly concerned about the "chilling atmosphere concerning free speech" at Brandeis since Provost Marty Krauss placed a monitor in Hindley's classes and threatened him with termination after he criticized the term "wetbacks" in class. FIRE is asking the 160 recipients of copies of our letter to contact President Reinharz and urge him to end this sorry chapter of Brandeis's history.
Recent Media Coverage
National Association of Scholars, July 14, "If I Ran the Zoo XI," by Harvey Silverglate
Naples Daily News, July 13, "FGCU makes code of conduct changes to protect free speech," by Candace Braun
Youth Radio, July 10, "Free Speech on Campus," by Luke Jones and Kate Zane
WorldNetDaily, July 9, "University attacks student for reading this book"
The Wall Street Journal, July 7, "American politics aren't 'post-racial'," by Dorothy Rabinowitz
More media coverage at thefire.org »
July 14, "Institutional Disharmony at IUPUI," Azhar Majeed
July 14, "More Speech Codes Under Review at Florida Gulf Coast U.," Samantha Harris
July 14, "Part Two of Harvey Silverglate's CFN Speech: "Changing the Culture"," Erin Royce
July 11, "In Defense of Humor," Jaclyn Hall
July 11, "Brandeis Alumnus Blasts University for Treatment of Professor," Luke Sheahan
Read The Torch at thefire.org »
Recent Multimedia Content
Video, Voices of Vision Part II
FIREside Chats, Episode 120: Harvey Silverglate on "Changing the Culture"
FIREside Chats, Episode 119: Harvey Silverglate: "If FIRE Didn't Exist, Why We Would Have to Invent It"
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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