University of Delaware

Before attending the University of Delaware -- or any school, really -- students should practice their civil disobedience skills and be prepared to tell peers, upperclassmen, advisors, and instructors to go to hell. Manipulators are everywhere, so beware. Show them no mercy when you find them. Ridicule them loudly and consistently.

FIRE intercedes at the University of Delaware


Update 05/23/09: The University of Delaware has reaffirmed its dedication to creating communard automatons in place of teaching students to acquire knowledge, to develop intelligence, and to reason. Unless you are planning to spend your life under an overpass in one of California's many failed cities, steer clear of this socialist-infested rat's nest. They have no hope of recovery before they fail completely. Don't go down with the ship.

Skeptical? Shocked? I'm sure you are. See for yourself. Here's their nine-page residence hall re-education and socialist indoctrination curriculum. Warning! Warning! Warning!

That's just the brain screwing they plan to give you the first year. It gets worse. For the subsequent three years the University of Delaware communists have prepared a 20-page residence hall re-education and socialist indoctrination curriculum. A gross exaggeration? Indeed, that would be logical, but it would be wrong. Read it. Warning! Warning! Warning! This is no place to try to get an education.

See also: A prescription for public education

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Spotlight

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is a school from Hell. When they reluctantly dismantled their unconstitutional free speech zone, an area between two parking lots, they denied that it was a problem and claimed that they saw nothing wrong with it. The school chancellor then attacked FIRE, the organization that finally convinced them to change their behavior.

SIUC's unconstitutional sexual harassment policies have been used to illegally prosecute two professors, one of whom died, allegedly as a result of the stress of the investigation and punishment. The school admits no wrong, resists all correction, and attacks those who seek redress, never letting truth get in their way.

This is a school that needs a damned good scrubbing from the top down. Meanwhile, we'll mark it with a symbol that can't be misunderstood. Sieg heil and all that.

Full story and contacts

University of Delaware

Spotlight

One look at the case materials, blog entries, and media coverage on FIRE's site is more than enough to convince any student to steer clear of the University of Delaware, no matter what the current promises and reforms might be. If ever there was a school that needed the L. Neil Smith Prescription for Public Education, the University of Delaware is it.

Prescription for Public Education

by L. Neil Smith

Shut them all down. Shut them down now. Drive the parasitic drones from their classrooms and hallways and into the streets with bullwhips, torches, and fire hoses. Let them sell pencils from a tin cup. Raze the buildings to the ground so that not one stone is left standing on another. And sow salt on the ruins.

____________

Please Report to Your Resident Assistant to Discuss Your Sexual Identity—It's Mandatory! Thought Reform at the University of Delaware

by Adam Kissel

A female freshman arrives for her mandatory one-on-one session in her male RA's dorm room. It is 8:00 p.m. Classes have been in session for about a week. The resident assistant hands her a questionnaire. He tells her it is "a little questionnaire to help [you] and all the other residents relate to the curriculum." He adds that they will "go through every question together and discuss them." He later reports that she "looked a little uncomfortable."

"When did you discover your sexual identity?" the questionnaire asks.

"That is none of your damn business," she writes.

"When was a time you felt oppressed?"

"I am oppressed every day [because of my] feelings for the opera. Regularly [people] throw stones at me and jeer me with cruel names.... Unbearable adversity. But I will overcome, hear me, you rock loving majority."

She is not playing along like the other students, and the RA confronts her using his "confrontation training," but it isn't working. He becomes so appalled by her resistance that he writes up an incident report and reports her to his superiors. After all, this is the University of Delaware, and the school has a zero-tolerance policy for anything remotely resembling "hate speech."

This one-on-one session was not meant to be a punishment, some kind of mandatory sensitivity training for a recalcitrant student who had committed an infraction. It was mandatory training for all 7,000-odd students in the University of Delaware dorms. The sessions were part of a thorough thought-reform curriculum, designed by the school's Office of Residence Life, to psychologically "treat" and correct the allegedly incorrect thoughts, attitudes, values, beliefs, and habits of the students. The ResLife staff considered students too intolerant of one another, too "consumerist," and in dire need of reeducation to become responsible world citizens who could meet the planet's environmental crisis and the requirements of social and economic "justice."

Full story

Contacts:
Adam Kissel, Director, Individual Rights Defense Program, FIRE: 215-717-3473, adam@thefire.org
Patrick Harker, President, University of Delaware: 302-831-2111, president@udel.edu

Lone Star College - Tomball

The mere mention of a gun on an amusing flyer was sufficient for the school administration to surrender their ability to think rationally and use logic and common sense. Instead, word association and hyperventilation quickly ensued, and the administration completely lost its mind. The flyers were banned in a fit of hysterical censorship, and the student group that issued them was threatened with probation and derecognition.

Although the spectre of Virginia Tech was raised, the administration was unaware that the group's president had the same name as a man who was once considered to be the most dangerous man in Arizona's prison system, that is, before he was put to death by lethal injection last year. Had the administration done that ridiculous word association, there's no telling what they might have done. They would have lost it, for sure. "Gun! Gun! Death row! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

Full story and contacts

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

Not content with having shot itself in the foot, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis took careful aim and shot itself in the head. This used to be a good school; now it wouldn't even make a good parking lot.

Two months ago, in the face of withering public criticism, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) revoked its original finding that student-employee Keith John Sampson had committed racial harassment by reading a book at work that celebrated the defeat of the Ku Klux Klan in a 1924 street brawl. Now, IUPUI is claiming that Sampson was in fact punished for some other behavior, but the school refuses to reveal any details of this alleged conduct. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is calling on IUPUI to either reveal and prove this alleged offense or stop publicly smearing its own student.

"This looks like a classic example of a college making things worse in an unprincipled attempt to save face," FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley said. "IUPUI's own letters to Sampson made clear that his reading a book about the Ku Klux Klan was the problem, and the university claims to have completely exonerated him of all charges. If so, why are its spokespeople now telling The Wall Street Journal that the problem was really some other mysterious conduct that the university will not reveal to anyone, including Sampson himself?"

Sampson's ordeal began in November 2007, when he was notified by Lillian Charleston of IUPUI's Affirmative Action Office that two co-workers had filed a racial harassment complaint against him. The office alleged that by reading a book about the KKK in the break room, Sampson had engaged in racial harassment. Sampson attempted to explain that the book, Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan, was a historical account of a 1924 incident in which a group of University of Notre Dame students fought in the streets with members of the Ku Klux Klan. This explanation was ignored, and he later received a letter from Charleston stating that he was guilty of racial harassment for "openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject."

Yet according to an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the university's "official story" has now become that Sampson's reading material had nothing to do with the guilty finding. Instead, university relations officials claimed that some undisclosed "harassing behavior" had led to the charge. As columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote, "What the behavior was, one learned, could never be revealed."

It gets better.

Full story and contacts

Colorado College

Chainsaw Etiquette at Colorado College

Shippensburg University

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa., May 6, 2008—A complaint filed in federal court today by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund alleges that Shippensburg University has dishonestly reinstituted unconstitutional policies in violation of the terms of a 2004 legal settlement reached with members of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s (FIRE’s) Legal Network.

"Shippensburg’s inexplicable violation of the 2004 settlement demonstrates a blatant disregard for the First Amendment and its own promises," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "By brazenly reneging on the terms of an agreement that previously saved it from an embarrassing defeat in court, Shippensburg has further tainted its tarnished reputation."

Full story and contacts

Louisiana State University

Writing to the school newspaper has landed more than one Louisiana State University student in trouble.

Full story
Full story

Brandeis University

Brandeis University declared a professor guilty of racial harassment and placed a monitor in his classes after he criticized the use of the word "wetbacks" in his Latin American Politics course.

Professor Donald Hindley, a nearly 50-year veteran of teaching, has neither been granted a formal hearing by Brandeis nor provided with the substance of the accusations against him in writing. Hindley has turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.

"Brandeis's actions demonstrate a fundamental disregard for academic freedom and for fair, rational fact-finding procedures," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "Professor Hindley is a respected scholar who until now has not faced a single student complaint in nearly five decades of teaching. Punishing him for actually criticizing the use of what is often considered an ethnic slur shows a mindless application of 'sensitivity at all costs' at the expense of freedom of expression."

Full story and contacts

Hamline University

Spotlight

Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, has suspended a student who suggested that the Virginia Tech massacre might have been stopped if students had been allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. Student Troy Scheffler was suspended without due process two days after e-mailing his suggestion and is now required to undergo "mental health evaluation" before being allowed to return to school. Scheffler has turned to FIRE for help.

Full story

Contacts:
Linda Hanson, President: 651-523-2202; lhanson@hamline.edu
David Stern, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs: 651-523-2088; dstern02@hamline.edu

Valdosta State University

What can one expect from a university whose president, Ronald M. Zaccari, expelled a student (T. Hayden Barnes, a paramedic) for criticizing the construction of two parking garages and who then claims his life is threatened to such a degree that he needs a bodyguard? Many university employees were sound asleep when this lunatic was put on the university payroll. The lunatic has retired, but how many of the dimwits still work there?

Full story and contacts

San Francisco State University

In a profound display of disrespect for free speech, San Francisco State University (SFSU) is investigating its College Republicans for hosting an anti-terrorism rally on campus on October 17, 2006, in which participants stepped on makeshift Hezbollah and Hamas flags. After students filed a complaint claiming they were offended because the flags bore the word "Allah," SFSU initiated an investigation into accusations of incitement, creation of a hostile environment, and incivility. Members of the College Republicans then contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for assistance.

"At a public university, stepping on a flag—even burning an American flag—is without question a constitutionally protected act of political protest," FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley said. "The right to protest is at the very heart of the First Amendment, and means nothing if only inoffensive expression is permitted."

Full story and contacts

03/09/2007 Students face punishment

03/20/2007 Victory, no punishment

07/09/2007 Students sue SFSU

11/08/2007 Victory, all speech code enforcement ordered stopped

03/03/2008 Victory, SFSU settles lawsuit
San Francisco State University settled a lawsuit challenging its speech codes by agreeing to modify several unconstitutional policies to make them consistent with the First Amendment. The settlement also requires SFSU to pay damages to members of the university's College Republicans as well as to pay the College Republicans' attorney fees. "Unconstitutional speech codes have been dealt yet another blow," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "This lawsuit and settlement send a message to university administrators everywhere that there are real consequences for violating students' rights."

Johns Hopkins University

This one is so outrageous that you might find yourself inviting the university president to celebrate "Halloween in the Hood" with you and your homies every year. Justin Park, an 18-year-old junior, put a Halloween party invitation on Facebook.com and was then suspended from the university and banned from campus until January 2008, was required to complete 300 hours of community service; and had to read 12 books, write a reflection paper on each book, and attend a workshop on diversity and race relations. [Full story and contacts]

Wait! There's more Johns Hopkins lunacy.

Albertson College of Idaho

The Albertson College Student Handbook’s harassment policy states that “[a]ny comments or conduct relating to a person’s race, gender, religion, disability, age or ethnic background that fail to respect the dignity and feelings of the individual are unacceptable.” The Handbook also provides that “[a]ll inappropriate behaviors may not be specifically covered in the misconduct definitions, and students will be held accountable for behaviors considered inconsistent with the standards and expectations described in this handbook.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5844.html

American University

American University has punished an undergraduate student journalist for videotaping a public speech by Tipper Gore.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/35.html

Contacts:
Benjamin Ladner, President: 202-885-2121; president@american.edu
Faith C. Leonard, Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students: 202-885-3300; fleonar@american.edu
Katsura Kurita, Director of Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services: 202-885-3368; kurita@american.edu
Mary E. Kennard, Vice President and University Counsel: (202) 885-3285; mekesq@american.edu

Arizona State University

Spotlight

Arizona State University (ASU), responding to serious concerns raised by FIRE President Alan Charles Kors, will eliminate a racial restriction on enrollment for a "First-Year Seminar" in history. ASU's deputy general counsel, Mary C. Stevens, has assured FIRE that ASU would immediately remove the limitation from the 2002 course catalog.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/37.html

State-sponsored racial segregation has found a home at Arizona State University (ASU). ASU’s ironically named "Rainbow Sections" of English 101 and 102 have been advertised on flyers and on the university’s website as being open to "Native Americans only." Shockingly, this marks the second time in less than four years that FIRE has been forced to protest a racially segregated course at ASU.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/687.html

Contact:
Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University: 480-965-8972; michael.crow@asu.edu

Bennington College

In an abuse of power incompatible with the minimal standards of due process and academic freedom, Bennington President Elizabeth Coleman fired Philosophy Professor Carlin Romano without so much as a hearing.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/article/142.html

Brandeis University

Brandeis convicted student David Schaer in an unfair proceeding (one that violated the University's own disciplinary procedures) of engaging in unwanted sexual activity with a female student and thereby creating a "hostile environment" for his accuser.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/59.html

Brooklyn College

Spotlight

In a direct attack on academic freedom and free speech, the Brooklyn College School of Education (Brooklyn, NY) is seeking to silence one of its most prominent critics, history professor KC Johnson. After publicly criticizing perceived indoctrination and viewpoint discrimination by members of the Brooklyn College faculty, Johnson is facing a possible investigation by a Brooklyn College "Integrity Committee" for his constitutionally protected speech.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/6255.html

More: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/685.html

Prior case: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/657.html

Contact: Christoph M. Kimmich, President, Brooklyn College: 718-951-5671; cmk@brooklyn.cuny.edu

City University of New York

On October 23, the trustees of the City University of New York (CUNY) voted to condemn a faculty "teach-in" as seditious. On October 2, in order to provide a forum for discussion on the terrorist attacks, professors at CUNY held the "teach-in" at which several professors criticized America and its foreign policy. CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein issued a public statement condemning the professors who expressed such views. Having approved the hiring and promotion of the very faculty who spoke, the trustees and administration now would prefer that they not express their actual and well-known views.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/article/107.html

College of the Holy Cross

At the College of the Holy Cross, in Massachusetts, the chair of the department of sociology, Professor Royce Singleton, demanded that a secretary remove an American flag that she had hung in the departmental office. The flag was in memory of her friend Todd Beamer, who fought and died on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 over Pennsylvania. When she refused, Singleton removed it himself. After unfavorable publicity, the College apologized, but the flag in question was moved to the department of psychology.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/article/103.html

College of William & Mary

A student group at the College of William & Mary (W&M), whose "affirmative action bake sale" protest had been unlawfully censored by administrators in November 2003, proceeded successfully with an identical protest on January 27, 2004—this time without administrative interference. W&M's president, however, still refuses to admit wrongdoing in stopping the first protest, claiming that the group had not met "administrative requirements" in its earlier attempt to engage in constitutionally protected free speech.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/7.html

Contacts:
Timothy J. Sullivan, President, College of William & Mary: 757-221-1693; tjsull@wm.edu
W. Samuel Sadler, Vice President for Student Affairs, College of William & Mary: 757-221-3300; wssadl@wm.edu
Mark Constantine, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, College of William & Mary: 757-221-3300; mxcons@wm.edu

Columbia University

Sexual misconduct policy violates due process rights.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/45.html

Contacts:
George Rupp, President of Columbia University: (212) 854-2825; rupp@columbia.edu
Misumbo Byrd, Columbia Office of Sexual Misconduct: (212) 854-1717; mb2068@columbia.edu
Lee Bollinger, President-Elect of Columbia University: (734) 764-6270; leecbol@umich.edu

Columbia University

Columbia University has been debating charges of anti-Semitism that have been leveled against professors in the university’s department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/662.html

Contact: Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University: 212-854-9970; bollinger@columbia.edu

DePaul University

DePaul University administrators have suspended Professor Thomas Klocek without a hearing after he engaged in an out-of-class argument with pro-Palestinian students at a student activities fair. When the students complained to administrators, Klocek was denied the rights that DePaul guarantees to professors accused of wrongdoing and immediately suspended. Statements from DePaul administrators indicate that Klocek was disciplined because of his harsh criticism of the students’ viewpoint, despite DePaul’s stated commitments to free speech and academic freedom.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/678.html

Contacts:
Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, President, DePaul University: 312-362-8000; dholtsch@depaul.edu
Tom Ciesielka, President, TC Public Relations: 312-422-1333; tc@tcpr.net

Duke University

At Duke University, the administration shut down a website after Professor Gary Hull posted an article entitled "Terrorism and Its Appeasement" that called for a strong military response to the terrorist attacks.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/49.html

Forsyth Technical Community College

Forsyth Technical Community College writing instructor Elizabeth Ito has been dismissed for criticizing the war in Iraq during a writing class.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/650.html

Contacts:
Gary M. Green, President: 336-734-7201; ggreen@forsyth.cc.nc.us
Cynthia A. Bioteau, Vice President, Instructional Services: 336-734-7203; cbioteau@forsyth.cc.nc.us
John R. Slade, Jr., Dean, Arts and Sciences Division: 336-734-7251; jslade@forsyth.cc.nc.us
Susie Keener, Department Chair, Humanities & Communications: 336-734-7390; skeener@forsyth.cc.nc.us

George Washington University

At the George Washington University (GW), despite widespread public criticism, the administration has yet to dismantle a "Compliance Line" that receives anonymous allegations against students and professors and allows GW officials to conduct secret investigations.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/38.html

Contacts:
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President, George Washington University: 202-994-6500; gwupotu@gwu.edu
John Banzhaf, Professor of Law, George Washington University: 202-994-7229; jbanzhaf@ash.org
The George Washington University Compliance Line: 888-508-5275

Frivolous administrative "investigations" continue to chill faculty expression.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/655.html

Gonzaga University

Gonzaga University's president, Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., has permitted the School of Law's Student Bar Association (SBA) to refuse to recognize a Christian student organization. According to the SBA, the Gonzaga Pro-Life Law Caucus's requirement that its leadership be Christian is "discriminatory."

It now has come to light that yet another Christian group, the Christian Legal Society, also failed to gain recognition from the law school's Student Bar Association (SBA). The Christian Pro-Life Law Caucus had been rejected as an official student group last fall, when SBA president Albert Guadagno declared that the Christian group's requirement that its leadership be Christian was "discriminatory." Gonzaga's president, Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., has failed to intervene on behalf of either group despite Gonzaga Law's promise to be a "welcoming environment for students of all religious backgrounds or secular moral traditions."

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/78.html

Contacts:
Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., President, Gonzaga University: 509-328-4220; president@gonzaga.edu
Daniel Morrissey, Dean, Gonzaga Law School: 509-323-3693; dmorrissey@lawschool.gonzaga.edu
Mike Casey, Corporation Counsel, Gonzaga University: 509-323-6137; weitz@gu.gonzaga.edu
Albert Guadagno, President, Student Bar Association; aguadagno@lawschool.gonzaga.edu

Governors State University

On April 10, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld freedom of the press at Governors State University (GSU), in University Park, Illinois. FIRE had joined an amicus brief submitted by the Student Press Law Center urging the Court to vindicate the basic first amendment rights of college students. Judge Terence T. Evans, who wrote the decision, called this brief "superb."

This is a crucial victory that undoes an attempt to impose a truly draconian form of censorship on college students and should serve as a warning to any university that seeks to treat their students as children.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/18.html

June 23, 2005: A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit filed by collegiate journalists who claim administrators at a Chicago-area university censored the student newspaper.

The ruling issued on Monday has opened the door for administrators to censor any school-subsidized activity, Mark Goodman, Student Press Law Center executive director, said.

Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center, said it was a sad day for those who believe in a free press.

Update: http://www.bsudailynews.com/vnews/display.v?TARGET=printable&article_id=42ba511c53da1

Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University in Michigan was proceeding with plans to try its College Republicans on “discrimination” charges related to their bake sale protest against affirmative action. “Affirmative action bake sales” constitute a form of satirical political protest that enjoys the fullest protection of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. At GVSU, complaining students charged the College Republicans with violating a variety of GVSU regulations, most having to do with “discrimination.”

More: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/673.html

"Baking With Fire," by John Leo, U.S. News and World Report, April 18, 2005
The enemies of campus bake sales are at it again, inflaming one another over the dire threat of cupcakes and cookies sold at different prices to whites, minorities, and women.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5537.html

Update: Kyle Rausch, the ousted head of the College Republicans at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, has responded to Professor Paul Leidig's comments. Rausch was removed from his position after he organized an affirmative action bake sale.

More: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/11281.html

Contact: Mark A. Murray, President, Grand Valley State University: 616-331-2100; president@gvsu.edu

Harvard University

A Harvard graduate student has been barred from continuing his studies because a fellow student accused him of sexual assault in January of 2002. The student was acquitted on all six counts of rape and assault by Middlesex Superior Court last August and his accuser was shown to be fabricating parts of her story at the trial. Despite this, Harvard has not readmitted him and has not dropped its own charges against him.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/8.html

Lakeland Community College

A philosophy professor who was punished for disclosing his religious viewpoint to students has filed suit against Lakeland Community College in Ohio. Professor James Tuttle was disciplined by the administration and later stripped of his classes for making statements on his syllabi and in class lectures that referenced his religious faith and how it shaped his personal philosophy.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/77.html

Contacts:
Morris W. Beverage, President, Lakeland Community College: 440-525-7000; mbeverage@lakelandcc.edu
James L. Brown, Dean, Arts and Sciences Division, Lakeland Community College: 440-525-7091; jbrown@lakelandcc.edu

Le Moyne College

New York’s Le Moyne College, which claims to protect academic freedom, has dismissed a master’s student from its graduate education program based on his personal beliefs. After the student wrote a paper advocating strict discipline in the classroom, the chair of Le Moyne’s education department expelled the student because of a “mismatch” between his beliefs and the goals of the college’s graduate education program.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/666.html

Contacts:
Reverend Charles Beirne, President, Le Moyne College: 315-445-4120; beirnecj@lemoyne.edu
John Smarrelli, Jr., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs: 315-445-4312; smarrelj@lemoyne.edu
Cathy Leogrande, Education Department Chair, Le Moyne College: 315-445-4375; leogracc@lemoyne.edu

Macomb Community College

Macomb Community College censored a professor’s classroom speech.

More: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/50.html

Occidental College

Occidental College in Los Angeles unjustly punished a student DJ for “sexual harassment” for on-air jokes, and then used the controversy as an excuse to dissolve the student government.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/647.html

Update: Former Occidental College student Jason Antebi (represented by the law firm of Sherman & Nathanson) filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Occidental for its abuse of his free speech rights and its shameful campaign to discredit him. College administrators accused Antebi of sexual harassment for statements made on-air during a radio broadcast, used the controversy as a pretext to dissolve the student government, and even went so far as to publicly—and falsely—accuse Antebi of vandalism and other crimes in an apparent attempt to keep FIRE and other civil liberties groups from taking his case. Occidental must now answer in court for its outrageous actions.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5427.html

Contacts:
Ted Mitchell, President, Occidental College; 323-259-2691; tmitchel@oxy.edu
Sandra Cooper, General Counsel, Occidental College: 323-259-1441; scooper@oxy.edu

Rhode Island College

Spotlight

1. Professor Lisa Church was forced to submit to disciplinary hearings for refusing to punish constitutionally protected student speech.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/660.html

2. Rhode Island College’s School of Social Work is requiring a conservative master’s student to publicly advocate for "progressive" social changes if he wants to continue pursuing a degree in social work policy. The school’s appalling disregard for student Bill Felkner’s freedom of conscience is the latest in an ongoing string of abuses by RIC administrators and faculty members that violate the right to fundamental freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/669.html

Contacts:
John Nazarian, President, Rhode Island College: 401-456-8101; jnazarian@ric.edu
Lenore Olsen, Chair, Master’s of Social Work Program, Rhode Island College: 401-456-8042; lolsen@ric.edu

Rhodes College

The Rhodes College Policy on Discrimination and Harassment states that “freedom of expression does not include the right to intentionally and maliciously aggravate, intimidate, ridicule or humiliate another person.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5792.html

San Diego State University

At San Diego State University, an international student, Zewdalem Kebede, overheard several other students, speaking loudly in Arabic, express delight about the terrorist attacks. Kebede engaged the students and, in Arabic, challenged their positions. Kebede was accused by San Diego State University of abusive behavior toward the four students. A University judicial officer formally admonished Kebede and warned him that "future incidents [will result in] serious disciplinary sanctions."

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/48.html

Shaw University

At Shaw University during fall 2002, Gale Isaacs, long-time professor and chair of the Allied Health Department, was fired for co-authoring a faculty resolution that criticized the University’s president and Board of Trustees.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/28.html

Contacts:
Talbert O. Shaw, President, Shaw University: 919-546-8302; toshaw@shawu.edu
Vaughan Witten, Vice President for Student Affairs: 919-546-8270; vwitten@shawu.edu
Julie Youngman, Counsel for Shaniqua Bizzell: 919-865-7036; Julie_Youngman@elliswinters.com

Southwest Missouri State University

Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU), a public institution bound by the First Amendment, is investigating the faculty advisor and student editor of its campus newspaper, The Standard, for publishing an editorial cartoon that a Native American group found "offensive." SMSU has refused to rule out a formal hearing on the matter, has requested that Standard faculty advisor Professor Wanda Brandon and editor-in-chief Mandy Phillips attend "mediation" to discuss the issue, and, according to Philips, has contacted The Standard to "advise" it that even reporting on the administration's intervention in this case could violate university policy.

Full story: http://thefire.org/index.php/case/652.html

Contacts:
Dr. John Keiser, President, Southwest Missouri State University: 417-836-8500; jhk021f@smsu.edu
Jana Estergard, Equal Opportunity Officer, Southwest Missouri State University: 417-836-4252; jke451t@smsu.edu
John F. Black, General Counsel, Southwest Missouri State University: 417-836-8507; jfb966t@smsu.edu

State College Area School District

A federal appeals court in Pennsylvania ruled that the speech and expression provisions of State College Area School District's harassment policy violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/64.html

Texas Tech University

A federal judge has struck down "free-speech zones" at Texas Tech University, ruling unconstitutional a requirement that students who wish to give speeches must stay within a designated area.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/9.html

Tufts University

Campus administrators, wearing their social engineers' hats, adopt a profoundly more problematic role when instead of trying to persuade students voluntarily to look at life in accordance with the university's official social ideology, they assign themselves the coercive power to punish words on the administration's list of disfavored expression. Such arrogation of the powers of censorship is even more objectionable when it comes a mere 12 years after an embarrassingly failed experiment in speech control that ultimately was repudiated by Tufts' then-President Jean Mayer, who admitted that it was a mistake because it violated academic freedom. Somehow, Tufts' current administrators' historical memory failed. More likely, they simply failed to grasp that censorship in the name of a seemingly good cause like tolerance is, nonetheless, censorship, and that the essence of free speech and academic freedom is the right to utter words and thoughts that we hate. Such freedom is good in itself; it becomes imperative, of course, in a society in which citizens hate and love a great variety of mutually exclusive things.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/51.html

University of Alabama

Spotlight

1. In a scandal that should trouble every friend of liberty, the Faculty Senate of the University of Alabama has threatened the First Amendment rights both of free speech and of petitioning the government for the redress of grievances.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/653.html

Contacts:
Andrew A. Sorensen, President, University of Alabama: 205-348-5103; sorensen@pres.ua.edu
Wythe W. Holt, Jr., Professor of Law, Faculty Life Committee Co-Chair, Faculty Senate: 205-348-1123; wholt@law.ua.edu
Jerry L. Rosiek, Professor of Education, Faculty Life Committee Co-Chair, Faculty Senate: 205-348-7598; jrosiek@bamaed.ua.edu
David T. Beito, Professor of History: 205-348-1870; dbeito@history.as.ua.edu
Charles W. Nuckolls, Professor of Anthropology: 205-348-8202; executive@alabamascholars.org


2. Freedom of expression is once again under assault at the University of Alabama (UA). In September, the UA Faculty Senate passed a resolution that threatens to severely restrict free expression on this public campus by regulating speech in approved university activities and contractually restricting outside speakers whose speech might be deemed to be “demeaning.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/654.html

Contacts:
Robert Witt, President, University of Alabama: 205-348-5100; witt@pres.ua.edu
John Mason, Faculty Senate President, University of Alabama; 205-348-2904; faculty.senate.president@ua.edu


3. The University of Alabama gained notoriety when it banned students from displaying the American flag (and all other flags) in their dorm windows. Now it has ordered the Alabama Scholars Association, a faculty group critical of the university's grading policies, to pay a rate eight times higher than that paid by other faculty organizations for use of the university’s mail system.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/39.html

Contacts:
Robert E. Witt, President, University of Alabama: 205-348-5103; witt@pres.ua.edu
Judy Bonner, Provost, University of Alabama: 205-348-4892; judy.bonner@ua.edu
Charles W. Nuckolls and David T. Beito, ASA: 205-345-7378; asa@alabamascholars.org
Stephen H. Balch, President, National Association of Scholars: 609-683-7878; balch@nas.org


TUSCALOOSA, Ala., February 28, 2005—In a remarkable display of intellectual independence and moral courage, the University of Alabama (UA) Student Senate last week passed a “free speech” resolution that directly opposes a “hate speech” resolution passed by UA’s Faculty Senate last fall. Recognizing that the faculty’s “hate speech” resolution was a thinly veiled call for a speech code, the students’ resolution urges the UA administration and faculty “to adopt policies that explicitly protect free speech for all students at the University of Alabama.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5363.html

University of California at Santa Barbara

Spotlight

1. Christopher Brown submitted the thesis to the library with a preface that he called "Disacknowledgments." The librarians at UCSB (themselves subject to criticism in the Disacknowledgments) informed the school that Brown's preface contained unflattering, vulgar, and offensive remarks directed at the school. Upon the administration's discovering this, Brown was told he would not be granted a degree unless he removed the "offending" language. Brown altered his remarks, removing what he considered to be the offending passages. At this point the school's Dean informed Brown that in order to be granted his degree he would have to remove the section altogether. Brown refused, invoking his First Amendment rights at a public university. Because his Disacknowledgments prevented him from earning his degree (for a thesis already approved in terms of its substance), Brown was placed on academic probation and was threatened with expulsion.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/56.html

2. February 4, 2005—The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) has abandoned an attempt to force the owner of a website called The Dark Side of UCSB from using the letters “UCSB” in his web address. UCSB threatened Mr. James Baron, the site’s owner, with criminal sanctions if he did not change the site’s address. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) protested UCSB’s unconstitutional threats, and on the very same day that UCSB received FIRE’s letter, the university notified Mr. Baron that it would pursue the matter no further.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/665.html

University of Colorado at Boulder

Spotlight

Carlos Martinez was a successful student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, only months from graduation, until he made the mistake of yelling at the wrong people in the Office of the Bursar. He was placed on probation and ordered both to write a letter of apology and to attend an anger management class. Carlos balked at signing a letter with language mandated by the Office of Judicial Affairs. Andrea Goldblum, the head of the OJA, summarily expelled Carlos without a hearing. Carlos, the single father of a young child, was given 48 hours to vacate his on-campus housing.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/61.html

Contact:
Andrea Goldblum, CU Director of Judicial Affairs: 303-492-5550, andrea.goldblum@colorado.edu

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Spotlight

1. The University of Massachusetts granted a permit for a student rally to protest any use of force in waging the war against terrorism. The protest was held. Another student group reserved the same place to hold a rally in support of America's policy towards terrorism, but two days before the rally, their permit was revoked. Students held the rally anyway, and their pamphlets were publicly vandalized, with impunity.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/73.html

2. The University of Massachusetts Amherst defended the free speech rights of a columnist who celebrated the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman. Now the university is persecuting nine students who were seen in photographs containing a caricature of one of them as the "Grand Wizard" of the Ku Klux Klan. The mere existence of the drawing, which mocked spurious accusations of "racism" in a student government election campaign, led UMass to charge the nine students with "harassment" and threaten them with penalties ranging from criminal charges to expulsion.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/649.html

Contacts:
John V. Lombardi, Chancellor, UMass Amherst: 413-545-2211; lombardi@umass.edu
Michael Gargano, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, UMass Amherst: 413-545-2333; dunk@stuaf.umass.edu

University of Miami

Spotlight

University of Miami (UM) President Donna Shalala has permitted an official UM agent to deny recognition of a student organization that seeks to advance conservative philosophical ideas. UM takes the position that the campus chapter of the College Republicans speaks for all “conservatives.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/17.html

Contact:
Donna E. Shalala, President: 305-284-5155; dshalala@miami.edu

Note: This problem has been resolved, but only after FIRE and their media release drew the attention of the university president. Others in the administration were combative and untrustworthy, and they may still wield power and influence.

University of Nevada at Reno

Spotlight

The Residence Hall Handbook at the University of Nevada at Reno prohibits the following behaviors:

• "Lack of civility, any behavior or action, physical or verbal, that is meant to devalue, demean, or incite an individual or group, directly or implied, is prohibited."

• "Verbal abuse, including offensive language and derogatory group identity slurs (including but not limited to: race, sexual preference, gender, religion, socioeconomic status)."

Violating these provisions can lead to "immediate dismissal from the residence halls."

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/6224.html

University of New Hampshire

Spotlight



University of New Hampshire (UNH) freshman Timothy Garneau posted the flier (above) in the elevators of the Stoke Hall dormitory on September 3, in an effort to make light of the common frustration with students delaying the elevator by taking it for just one or two floors instead of taking the stairs. The hastily produced fliers, which were loosely based on an advertising flier posted in the UNH gym, read, “9 out of 10 freshman girls gain 10 – 15 pounds. But there is something you can do about it. If u live below the 6th floor takes the stairs…Not only will u feel better about yourself but you will also be saving us time and wont be sore on the eyes [sic].” Questioned about the fliers by an angry residence hall director, Garneau initially denied his involvement, but admitted a few minutes later that he was responsible for them.

Charged with offenses including “acts of dishonesty”; violation of “affirmative action” policies; “harassment”; and “conduct which is disorderly, lewd,” Garneau was quickly sentenced to expulsion from student housing, given extended disciplinary probation, required to meet with a psychological counselor to discuss his “decisions, actions, and reflections,” and required to write a 3000-word reflection paper about the counseling session. He was also to submit an apology letter to be published in Stoke Hall’s newspaper.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/651.html

Contacts:
Ann Weaver Hart, President, University of New Hampshire: 603-862-2450; presidents.office@unh.edu
Brad Williams, Stoke Hall Director, Department of Residential Life, University of New Hampshire: 603-862-0062; bradley.williams@unh.edu
Jason Whitney, Judicial Officer, University of New Hampshire: 603-862-3377; jason.whitney@unh.edu

Note: This problem has been resolved, but the story forecasts a potential for serious trouble on the horizon.

University of New Mexico

Spotlight

University of New Mexico Professor Richard Berthold addressed the terrorist attacks in his morning class on Western Civilization, remarking, "Anyone who can bomb the Pentagon has my vote." He apologized for the statement, claiming that it was stupidly intended to be a joke. Although this state university is bound by the U.S. Constitution, its president, William C. Gordon, announced that he would "vigorously pursue" disciplinary action against Berthold.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/47.html

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Spotlight

For the second time in two years, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has derecognized a Christian student organization. According to UNC, a Christian organization seeking to have Christian members is “discriminatory” and cannot have access to campus facilities, services, or programs. UNC's actions are a violation of student rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, and free association.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/645.html

Prior story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/29.html

Contacts:
James Moeser, Chancellor, UNC-Chapel Hill: 919-962-1365; james_moeser@unc.edu
Jonathan Curtis, Assistant Director for Student Activities and Organizations, UNC-Chapel Hill: 919-962-1461; jon@email.unc.edu

Note: Although these two cases have been resolved, the administration displays a troubling learning disability that requires the intervention of a federal court.

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Spotlight

At the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, administrators intimidated by a would-be censor shamelessly abandoned their moral and legal obligations to protect freedom of speech and privacy rights on their campus.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/634.html

Contacts:
James Leutze, Chancellor of UNC-W: 910-962-3030; leutzej@uncwil.edu
Harold M. White, University Counsel, UNC-W: 910-962-3030; whiteh@uncwil.edu
John C. Cavanaugh, Provost of UNC-W: 910-962-3389; cavanaugh@uncwil.edu

University of Oklahoma

Spotlight

The University of Oklahoma (UO) has gone to a new low in its efforts to silence Professor David Deming, a frequent critic of administrative policy and a politically outspoken faculty member. UO removed him from his department and moved his office to the basement--all the while claiming to respect the principles of academic freedom.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/658.html

Prior story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/62.html

Contacts:
David L. Boren, President: 405-325-3916; dboren@ou.edu
Nancy Mergler, Provost: 405-325-3221; nmergler@ou.edu
Roger Slatt, Director, School of Geology and Geophysics: 405-325-4424; rslatt@ou.edu
John Snow, Dean, College of Geosciences: (405) 325-3101; jsnow@ou.edu

University of South Carolina

Spotlight

The University of South Carolina, in the "Guidelines for Classroom Discussion" of a required course in a degree-granting program, demands allegiance to a narrow set of partisan political beliefs—on pain of being graded poorly for honest disagreement.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/34.html

Contacts:
John M. Palms, President, University of South Carolina: 803-777-2001; palms@sc.edu
Lynn Weber, Professor, University of South Carolina: 803-777-4007; weberl@sc.edu

University of South Florida

Spotlight

The University of South Florida (USF) dismissed a tenured professor on the grounds that outside criticism of his views had created too much of a “disruption” to uphold what USF itself explicitly termed constitutionally “protected speech.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/27.html

Contacts:
Judy Genshaft, President, USF: 813-974-2791; jgensha@admin.usf.edu
S. David Stamps, Provost, USF: 813-974-8347; dstamps@acad.usf.edu
Michael Reich, Director of Media Relations, USF: 813-974-9047; reich@admin.usf.edu
R. B. Friedlander, Interim General Counsel: 813-974-2131; usflegal@admin.usf.edu
Thomas Gonzalez, Counsel for USF: 813-273-0050
Dick Beard, Chairman, USF Board of Trustees: 813.221.7202; dbeard@trustees.usf.edu

University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire

Spotlight

1. EAU CLAIRE, Wis., April 27, 2005—The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UWEC) Student Senate has amended its rules to forbid any student-organized activity that promotes a “particular ideological, religious, or partisan viewpoint” from receiving student-fee funding. This new policy directly contradicts the university’s First Amendment obligation to distribute student funds regardless of viewpoint and violates the rights of all UWEC students.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/675.html

Contacts:
Vicki Lord Larson, Interim Chancellor, University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire: 715-836-2327; larsonvl@uwec.edu
Aaron Olson, Student Senate President, University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire: 715-834-2491; olsonal@uwec.edu

2. EAU CLAIRE, Wis., November 2, 2005—In a shameful attack on freedom of religion, the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UWEC) has banned resident assistants (RAs) from leading Bible studies in their own dormitories. The university claims the ban is necessary because some students might not feel RAs who lead Bible studies are “approachable.”

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/689.html

Contact:
Vicki Lord Larson, Interim Chancellor, University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire: 715-836-2327; larsonvl@uwec.edu

Washington State University

Spotlight

Washington State University has shamefully distorted the First Amendment by supporting disruptive heckling and threats at a controversial student play. The university paid for the hecklers to attend the play, helped plan the heckling, and later defended their threats and disruptions as a “responsible” exercise of free speech.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/683.html

This summer, Washington State University used “dispositions” theory to punish an education student for his political and religious expression. Washington State’s College of Education threatened 42-year-old student Ed Swan with dismissal for allegedly violating two vague “disposition” standards. Swan was also subjected to mandatory diversity training and ordered to sign an agreement to abide by all the “dispositions” to his professors’ satisfaction, under penalty of dismissal—all because of clearly protected speech.

When one professor specifically invited him to “write what you really feel” and “feel comfortable in class,” Swan did so. He noted, for example, that he is a “conservative Christian,” he believes that “white privilege and male privilege do not exist,” and he opposes gun control. Swan then received negative evaluations on “dispositions” commanding him to be “sensitive to community and cultural norms,” “appreciate[e] and valu[e] human diversity,” and “sho[w] respect for others’ varied talents and perspectives”—expressly because of his beliefs.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/686.html

Contacts:
V. Lane Rawlins, President, Washington State University: 509-335-6666; rawlins@wsu.edu
Judy Mitchell, Dean, College of Education, Washington State University: 509-335-1738; judym@wsu.edu

West Virginia University

Spotlight

West Virginia University recognizes the right of individuals to pursue their constitutional right of free speech and assembly, and welcomes open dialogue as an opportunity to expand the educational opportunities of our campus community. Individuals or organizations may utilize designated free speech areas on a first-come, first-served basis without making reservations.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/30.html

Contact:
David C. Hardesty, Jr., President: 304-293-5531; dhardest@wvu.edu

Note: This problem is resolved, but the effort required to end this extreme affront to freedom makes this a very risky school to attend.

William Paterson University

Spotlight

WAYNE, NJ, July 20, 2005—William Paterson University in New Jersey has convicted a student employee of "discrimination" and "harassment"—without due process—for describing homosexuality as a "perversion" in a private response to a professor's unsolicited announcement of a university event that promoted a positive view of lesbian relationships.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/schools/1023

Contacts:
Arnold Speert, President, William Paterson University: 973-720-2222; speerta@wpunj.edu
John I. Sims, Director, Office of Employment Equity and Diversity, William Paterson University: 973-720-2389; simsj@wpunj.edu

Williams College

Spotlight

Williams College informed its student groups that the college's statement of non-discrimination requirements applied to the activities of voluntary student associations. Such a move would have denied the right to freedom of association promised by the college in its publications.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/646.html

Yale University

Spotlight

Violating not only the spirit, but even the letter of Yale's policies on free speech, officials removed a political banner about the September 11 terrorist attacks. Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg implied that sanctions could follow.

Full story: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/44.html

FIRE's Campus Freedom Network

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