Category Archives: Free Speech

Students sue, saying Dixie State violates free speech

By Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press

March 4th, 2015 @ 4:01pm

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Three Dixie State University students filed a lawsuit Wednesday saying that administrators at the southern Utah college violated their free speech rights by refusing to let them post fliers with satirical pictures of President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and the revolutionary leader Che Guevara.

The members of Young Americans for Liberty also say one of their events designed to celebrate free speech was wrongly relegated to a small, out-of-the-way part of the St. George-based campus. The lawsuit filed in federal court seeks damages and changes to rules the students call arbitrary.

"I don't think we have any other options," said plaintiff William Jergins, a 24-year-old senior studying political science, economics and math. "Things like we did, kind of poking fun at public figures, I don't think should be disallowed."

Dixie State officials declined to comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit is directed by the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The legal action is part of a nationwide series of lawsuits over free-speech issues on college campuses.

"The function of an education is the free exchange of ideas," said Catherine Sevcenko, a lawyer with the group. "You got there to sort of have your ideas tested."

The students_Jergins, Joey Gillespie and Forrest Gee_say in court documents that the public school requires students to get permission before posting things on campus. They asked to put up three fliers featuring the photos with satirical captions last October. But they say they were denied because the fliers violated school policy by mocking people.

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Students sue, saying Dixie State violates free speech

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW)-- The Kansas Board of Regents finds itself among the "worst of the worst" abusers of free speech on colleges campuses in the country.

In fact, because the board oversees the state's six universities, it holds a special distinction among the annual top ten list of First Amendment violators, as compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

With the exception of U.S. Dept. of Education, which also appeared on the list, every other institution listed was a single college or university. The non-profit foundation noted that, even though it wasn't a college, the Regents still deserved to be included because of "the profound effect they had on campus expression throughout the country last year."

Specifically, FIRE said the Board of Regents "enact(ed) an overly broad policy on the 'improper use of social media.'"

"Our colleges and universities are supposed to be where students go to debate and explore new ideas," said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff.

"But too often the on the modern college campus, students and their professors find their voices silenced by administrators who would rather they be absent from the often contentious marketplace of ideas," he says in the group's report.

Other examples of free speech violation from other schools on the list included a college that wouldn't let a student hand out copies of the Constitution on Constitution Day, then punished a professor who came to the student's defense as well as a university that tried censoring a professor's blog that criticized the school.

Besides the Board of Regents and U.S. Dept. of Education, the other institutions on the list were:

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Watchdog: KS Board Of Regents "Worst Of The Worst" On Free Speech

Reuters

The University of Oxford had to cancel a debate on abortion last year because people objected that both panelists were male.

Concern that the Islamic State militant 'Jihadi John' may have been radicalised while attending a London university has re-stoked the debate about free speech in academic institutions.

Mohammed Emwazi was last week identified as the IS militant who has appeared in numerous beheading videos for IS. Emwazi attended the University of Westminster between 2006 and 2009. Former students have told the press that the university "created a hostile environment towards non-Muslims" and that it was heavily reliant on the income from foreign students, many of whom were Muslim, and so did not sufficiently scrutinise those invited to speak there.

The university has strongly defended the claims. And although the concerns may not prove true, they have prompted the institution to suspend all student events of a "sensitive" nature.

These fears come amid an ongoing debate about the freedom of expression at British universities and it doesn't just apply to religious groups. Recent cases include Oxford University cancelling a debate on abortion last year because people objected to the fact it was being debated by two men. And among the more bizarre examples are Birmingham University's ban on sombreros because they were deemed "racist" and UCL's student union banning the Nietzsche reading group.

Concerns were raised earlier this year by both academics and religious groups about the potential effect of the new Counter-Terrorism and Security Act. Guidance accompanying the Bill, which was issued in January, said universities would have to monitor groups on campus and vet talks and speakers.

While most Christians would support attempts to crack down on radicalisation, there were fears that this could have a negative impact on Christian unions and evangelical organisations hosting events at British universities.

The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) said at the time the Bill was being debated that although they supported government efforts to combat terrorism, there needed to be a distinction between Islamist radicalisation and the work of Christian unions. "The basic tenets of the Christian faith have nothing to do with terrorism, so what possible justification can there be for jeopardising time-honoured freedoms in an attempt to counter Islamist threats?" the chairman of the board of trustees John Lenton and director Richard Cunningham said in a joint statement.

Academics also saidin February that the proposed legislation was a threat to freedom of speech and would place an "unenforceable duty on educational institutions". The government responded to these concerns, and proposed amendments to protect the freedom of expression in universities.

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Is extremism putting free speech in UK universities under threat?

Free Speech Debate?
There was a "Freedom of Speech Debate" in Copenhagen, I guess the shooter also thought this was stupid. This is a clip from Some Garbage Podcast, it airs liv...

By: Christopher Cantwell

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Free Speech Debate? - Video

Carlow University's founders, the Sisters of Mercy, held values that align with the philosophy of a peaceful liberty, which made it the perfect place to set up two 4- by 8-foot plywood boards to form a free speech wall, a student leader said Monday.

Passers-by are free to write messages on the boards at the Oakland-based Catholic university, said Carlow senior Richard Haynes, 30, a history major.

It really is up to the interpretation of who is writing it, said Haynes, founder and president of the Carlow chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty, which sponsors the wall.

Handwritten messages range from those supporting equality and social justice, such as Liberty is Truth and America should give up racism for Lent, to calls for changes to the education system, such as There should not be any grades.

Founded in December, the Carlow chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty set up the wall Feb. 24 on the campus. It plans to take it down Friday.

The group obtained permission to set up the wall from the vice president of student engagement. The $100 for the supplies to build the wall came from Young Americans for Liberty.

Carlow is a university where a free exchange of ideas is expected, university spokesman Drew Wilson said.

These ideas are going to be here whether there is a wall or not, he said.

Founded in 2008, Young Americans for Liberty is a libertarian and conservative youth organization headquartered in Arlington, Va., according to the organization. There are more than 570 chapters nationwide. Chapters often set up free speech walls, said Deirdre Hackleman, spokeswoman for the national office.

Tory N. Parrish is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.

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Free speech wall rises at Carlow University

Kirsten Powers writes about politics, human rights and faith for USA Today and The Daily Beast. Chris Zarconi/Intelligence Squared U.S. hide caption

Kirsten Powers writes about politics, human rights and faith for USA Today and The Daily Beast.

There is agreement on both the political left and right that a majority of college professors in the United States are liberal or left-of-center. But do liberals stifle free speech particularly that of political and social conservatives on college campuses?

Social conservatives often argue that campuses, as a whole, are generally hostile to views that don't conform to the social and political left. Conservatives and evangelicals are rarely asked to speak at colleges and universities, they argue. And they point to numerous incidents where, when schools have asked conservatives to speak, those invitations have been revoked after clamor from left-leaning students and faculty.

But there are many who disagree with the premise that liberals quash intellectual diversity on college campuses. They argue that criticism is not censorship, but that conservatives too often label it as such. And when speech has been curtailed at colleges, they say, it's far more often by administrators seeking to quell or ward off campus disruption than by left-leaning students and faculty.

In the latest event from Intelligence Squared U.S., two teams faced off on in an Oxford-style debate on the motion, "Liberals Are Stifling Intellectual Diversity On Campus." In these events, the team that sways the most people by the end of the debate is declared the winner.

Before the debate at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., 33 percent of the audience voted in favor of the motion, 21 percent were opposed and 46 percent were undecided. After the debate, 59 percent agreed with the motion, while 32 percent disagreed, making the team arguing in favor of the motion the winner.

FOR THE MOTION

Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), is the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate and Freedom from Speech. He has published articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Stanford Technology Law Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education and numerous other publications. He is also a blogger for Huffington Post and authored a chapter in the anthology New Threats to Freedom. Lukianoff is a frequent guest on local and national syndicated radio programs, has represented FIRE on national television and has testified before the U.S. Senate about free speech issues on America's campuses. He is a co-author of FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus.

Angus Johnston (left), founder of StudentActivism.net, and Jeremy Mayer, a professor at George Mason University, argue against the motion, "Liberals Are Stifling Intellectual Diversity On Campus." Chris Zarconi/Intelligence Squared U.S. hide caption

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Debate: Do Liberals Stifle Intellectual Diversity On The College Campus?

A student group at Carlow University recently erected on campus a large outdoor poster-board, and on its otherwise blank surface, invited passersby to answer a question posed in blue marker: What is free speech?

For 10 days now, answers have been filling up the board, both weighty and whimsical, as students and others stop long enough to get whatever is on their mind off their chest and onto what the group has dubbed Free Speech Wall.

Thoughts on politics and religion, pointed observations about education and police, as well as expressions of personal sorrow and affirmation have appeared. The comments are helping the group, a campus chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, promote a dialogue on campus about the dimensions of free expression.

America should give up racism for lent, read one. Learning to love myself each day. You should too. stated another. Words might cost me my freedom, but they will never cost me my soul or my dignity, read yet another.

And then there was this:Can we have two-ply toilet paper?

The newly formed group approached school administrators with the idea, saying the project fit with the Catholic universitys mission to pursue truth in learning and to respect others, said Richard Haynes, 30, a senior history major from Smithton. The school agreed.

Two connected eight-foot-by-four-foot poster-boards attached to plywood went up in Carlows Hospitality Garden, next to Frances Warde Hall.The board is to come down at the end of today, and messages from it will be used to help organize a teach-in on campus.

Mr. Haynes said the anonymous messages on the board left up round the clock were largely upbeat and respectful. He said organizers removed nothing, but pointing to faded marker on some messages, he added, The weather seems to have taken some things down.

Drew Wilson, a Carlow spokesman, said administrators saw merit to the idea. Besides, he added, the feelings would exist on campus even if the wall was not there.

One student took the opportunity to say, Athiests have morals too.Another invoked recent police brutality protests with the words Hands up. Dont shoot. Still others tackled sexual and gender identify.

Continued here:
Carlow University 'wall' encourages free speech

One dead three policemen injured in shooting at Copenhagen free speech event - LoneWolf Sager (_)
One civilian is dead and three policemen injured, after shots were fired inside a Copenhagen cafe where a controversial Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, attended a debate on art and blasphemy. ...

By: LoneWolf Sager

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One dead three policemen injured in shooting at Copenhagen free speech event - LoneWolf Sager (_) - Video

The Kansas Board of Regents controversial social media policy has landed the board on a nonprofits list of educational institutions with the worst regard for free speech rights.

Mondays 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech in 2014 list by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education chides the Regents for enacting an overly broad policy on the improper use of social media.

FIREs annual worst of the worst list includes two institutions that arent colleges the Kansas board and the U.S. Department of Education. The list is critical of the profound effect they had on campus expression throughout the country last year.

Under the Regents policy, universities can let faculty go if they use social media in a way that is contrary to the best interest of the university. The Regents adopted the policy in December 2013 after The University of Kansas professor David Guths Twitter post about the Washington Navy Yard shootings, which killed a dozen people.

The blood is on the hands of the #NRA, Guth wrote. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you.

The policy was revised in May 2014 to add language referencing First Amendment rights, but those critical of the policy say revisions didnt go far enough to protect free-speech rights.

Nothing has changed since May 2014, said Breeze Richardson, a Regents spokeswoman. To continue to repeat the policy does X, Y and Z is misleading because it doesnt mandate anything happen. The reality is those who dont like the policy dont like the law.

Also on FIREs list of worst abusers of student and faculty free speech rights are Brandeis University; California State University, Fullerton; Chicago State University; Georgetown University; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Iowa; Marquette University; and Modesto (Calif.) Junior College.

Our colleges and universities are supposed to be where students go to debate and explore new ideas, said FIRE president Greg Lukianoff. But too often on the modern college campus, students and their professors find their voices silenced by administrators who would rather they be absent from the often contentious marketplace of ideas. When this happens, FIRE will be there to call out these reckless censors.

FIRE claims more than half of the top U.S. colleges maintain speech codes that violate the First Amendment.

Link:
Annual list of 10 worst abusers of student, faculty free speech rights includes Kansas Board of Regents

Photo by: The News-Gazette

Protesters chant for Chancellor Phyllis Wise to go, in front of the Swanlund Administration Building in Champaign on Tuesday August 26, 2014. Wise chose not to pass on Professor Steven Salaita's appointment to the university's board of trustees.

What's your take? Tell Tom Kacich here

URBANA The Steven Salaita saga has landed the University of Illinois on a list it probably would rather not make.

The UI is included in the fourth annual "10 worst colleges for free speech" list published by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The foundation criticized the UI for revoking a job offer to Salaita after he posted inflammatory tweets about Israel last summer. The decision sparked a nationwide debate over free speech and "civility" on college campuses and prompted boycotts by prominent academic groups.

Salaita had left a tenured position at Virginia Tech to accept a job with the UI's American Indian Studies program when the job was withdrawn by campus administrators. Chancellor Phyllis Wise later issued a statement explaining that the campus would not tolerate "personal and disrespectful words or actions that demean and abuse either viewpoints themselves or those who express them." That prompted critics to charge administrators were imposing a "speech code" on faculty. Wise has repeatedly said that was not her intent.

The UI Board of Trustees has upheld her decision and said recently it would not revisit the issue. Salaita is suing the university in federal court to get his job back.

Spokesman Nico Perrino said the UI was cited both because Salaita was "censored" for his personal tweets but also because the university "doubled down" with the email.

"Professors tweet personal opinions all the time," Perrino said. "You don't always see a job offer revoked for expressing their personal viewpoints."

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Updated: Group puts UI in top 10 'worst colleges for free speech'