Victory for Free Speech at San Jose State University: Administrators Lead the Way

There is good news today for students living in the residence halls at San Jose State University (SJSU). The housing department has revised several restrictive policies, including a previous FIRE Speech Code of the Month, thanks to the efforts of administrators seeking to protect the free speech rights of SJSU students.

In April 2009, FIRE named SJSU our Speech Code of the Month for a housing policy providing that

Any form of activity, whether covert or overt, that creates a significantly uncomfortable, threatening, or harassing environment for any UHS resident or guest will be handled judicially and may be grounds for immediate disciplinary action, revocation of the Housing License Agreement, and criminal prosecution. The conduct does not have to be intended to harass. The conduct is evaluated from the complainant's perspective.

The policy also listed examples of prohibited conduct including "verbal remarks," "ethnic slurs," and "publicly telling offensive jokes."

As we stated at the time, "speech that makes others 'uncomfortable' is in large part what the First Amendment exists to protect." Moreover, the policy's provision that conduct would be evaluated from the complainant's perspective directly contradicted harassment law, which requires that claims of harassment be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable person—not the most sensitive possible person—in the victim's position. Finally, we noted that the policy's examples of prohibited conduct explicitly included protected speech, such as telling offensive jokes.

Samantha Harris | Monday, 8 February 2010

Rights in the News: FIRE Follows Freedom of Association Case to Supreme Court

It's not every week that FIRE announces the filing of an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that will have crucial implications for students around the country, so first things first: Check out FIRE's brief in support of freedom of association in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez and see just what is at stake in this landmark case. And if you normally cringe at the thought of reading legal briefs, David French gives it a ringing endorsement at Phi Beta Cons—calling it "chicken soup for the constitutional litigator's soul." Thanks to Students For Liberty for joining FIRE on the brief.

Also this week, Andrew Sullivan highlighted Greg's Reason article in his blog at The Atlantic. Don't just take Sullivan's word for it that Greg's piece is good reading—go to Reason.com and check it out for ...

Peter Bonilla | Saturday, 6 February 2010

Speech Code of the Month: Westfield State College

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for February 2010: Westfield State College in Massachusetts.

Westfield's Student Handbook prohibits "discrimination," which it defines to include "making disparaging remarks that insult or stigmatize a student's cultural background or race" as well as "making insensitive remarks that reflect a student's disability." Westfield State College is a public university, bound to protect its students' First Amendment right to free speech. The college recognizes this fact elsewhere in its policies, clearly stating that "Westfield State College recognizes that the student, as an adult member of society and a citizen of the United States of America, is entitled to respect and consideration and has the right to the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, assembly and association." The non-discrimination policy, however, completely ignores this obligation, explicitly prohibiting large amounts of protected speech.

Samantha Harris | Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Rights in the News: Old and New FIRE Cases Are Hot Topics

In addition to media interest in Temple and Michigan State Universities for their continuing failure to respect their students' First Amendment rights, FIRE this week is in the pages of the Los Angeles Times which, as I wrote yesterday, looks at Los Angeles City College's crusade to censor its Collegian student newspaper. Meanwhile, University of Delaware (UD) professor Jan Blits, marking an auspicious start for the new AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom, has written a new essay on UD's notorious residence hall thought reform program that has so much good material that we've covered it twice here at The ...

Peter Bonilla | Friday, 29 January 2010