Ole Miss Scraps Speech Codes, Sets National Example by Protecting Student Rights

Here's today's press release:

OXFORD, Miss., January 23, 2012—The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) has eliminated its speech codes, earning the highest "green light" rating for free speech from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). While two-thirds of the nation's colleges maintain policies that clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech, Ole Miss is now a proud exception, having fully reformed four policies that restricted speech protected by the First Amendment. Ole Miss is the 16th school nationwide to earn a green light, the fifth to do so in the last two years, and the first in Mississippi. Ole Miss administrators worked in close contact with FIRE attorneys to address the university’s speech ...

Lyzi Diamond | Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Johns Hopkins University Continues to Defend Censorship

Johns Hopkins University's utter lack of concern for its students' free speech rights is on display again, this time in comments the university's spokesman made to the Maryland Gazette last week.

You may remember that in 2006, Hopkins threw the book at then-18-year-old student Justin Park for posting a Halloween party invitation deemed to be offensive on Facebook. Park's original punishment (reduced somewhat in the face of public pressure) included suspension from the university for a year, completion of 300 hours of community service, an assignment to read 12 books and to write a reflection paper on each, and mandatory attendance at a workshop on diversity and race ...

Samantha Harris | Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Bonilla: Campus Free Speech Crucial During Election Season

FIRE's Peter Bonilla has a new article on PolicyMic discussing the importance of freedom of expression on campus during election season. Referencing FIRE's past fights for free political speech at colleges nationwide, Peter ...

Peter Bonilla | Friday, 20 January 2012

Syracuse Folds on Ed Student's Expulsion

Things have moved quickly at Syracuse University since FIRE issued its press release yesterday calling out Syracuse's appalling treatment of graduate student Matthew Werenczak. As we reported, Werenczak was effectively expelled from Syracuse's School of Education (SOE) after posting a comment on his Facebook page in response to a racially tinged remark made by a local official visiting a school where Werenczak was working as a tutor. When the SOE got wind of this, it removed him from his student teaching assignments and gave him two unappealing choices to avoid expulsion: withdraw immediately from the program, or submit to a roster of remedial exercises that, even upon completion, would not guarantee him readmission. When the SOE dithered on considering his bid for reinstatement even after he fulfilled all of his requirements, FIRE got ...

Peter Bonilla | Thursday, 19 January 2012