Marathon Pundit: Unlawful speech codes thriving on college campuses

Friday, December 07, 2007

Unlawful speech codes thriving on college campuses

Yesterday the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a non-partisan free speech group, released its annual college speech codes report, and it appears to me that most schools get an "F."

From a FIRE press release:

Public colleges and universities are disregarding their constitutional obligations. A staggering 79 percent of public universities surveyed maintain unconstitutional speech codes, despite decades of federal court decisions striking down similar or identical policies.

Most private colleges and universities promise free speech, but they usually do not deliver. Unlike public universities, private universities are not legally bound by the First Amendment. However, most of them explicitly promise free speech rights to their students and faculty. For example, Tufts University promises it is "an open campus committed to the free exchange of ideas," but it found student journalists guilty of harassment simply for publishing a satirical Christmas carol and a factually verifiable criticism of radical Islam that some members of the campus community found offensive.

Highlights of FIRE’s research from the 2006-2007 academic year include:

Northeastern University in Boston prohibits students from using the university’s network to "[t]ransmit or make accessible material, which in the sole judgment of the University is offensive…."

Florida Gulf Coast University prohibits "expressions deemed inappropriate."

At The Ohio State University, students in the residence halls are instructed: "Do not joke about differences related to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, ability, socioeconomic background, etc."