Missouri State University (Formerly Southwest Missouri State): Assault on Press Freedom
At Missouri State University, administrators investigated a faculty advisor, Professor Wanda Brandon, and student editor, Mandy Phillips of its campus newspaper, The Standard, for publishing an editorial cartoon that a Native American group found "offensive." Jana Estergard of SMSU's Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) contacted Professor Brandon to request a meeting about a complaint regarding The Standard. The complaint absurdly alleged that The Standard had violated a religious freedom law, a civil rights act, and university policy, all simply by publishing a cartoon. Professor Brandon refused an OEO proposal of "mediation" to settle the issue and contacted FIRE, who wrote the school arguing that punishing the newspaper staff was a clear violation of their rights to freedom of speech and press. A day later, SMSU's general counsel replied, insisting that "Dr. Brandon has not been subjected to an investigation." He claimed, "the issue is education, not free speech."
Case Materials
"Threats, Coercion, and Bullying at Missouri State," June 9, 2009: This short documentary covers FIRE's case at Missouri State University, where social work student Emily Brooker was threatened with expulsion after she refused (as a matter of personal belief) to send a signed letter to the Missouri state legislature in favor of homosexual foster parenting and adoption. This violation resulted not only in a federal lawsuit (which the school settled) but also in an official report that found that a culture of intimidation rife in the schools School of Social Work. For instance, many students and faculty stated a fear of voicing differing opinions from the instructor or colleague, and bullying was used by both students and faculty to characterize specific faculty. The 12-minute documentary features interviews with Brooker, faculty at MSU involved in the case, and Missouri state legislator Jane Cunningham.
"Press Freedom Under Assault at Southwest Missouri State University," FIRE Press Release, March 26, 2004: Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU), a public institution bound by the First Amendment, is investigating 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 The Standard's faculty advisor and editor-in-chief attend mediation to discuss the issue, and, according to the editor-in-chief, has contacted the paper to "advise" it that even reporting on the administration's intervention in this case could violate university policy.
Media Coverage
"Cartoon draws ire of group; Newspaper adviser caught in fallout," Tracie Dungan, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 30, 2004: Just an hour's drive from the Arkansas border, Southwest Missouri State University has come under the scrutiny of a Philadelphia-based civil liberties advocacy group for its handling of an editorial cartoon published last fall in the student newspaper.
"Under the Radar: Political Correctness Never Died," Cathy Young, Reason, July 1, 2004: These days, talking about political correctness in academia
makes you sound like a quaint throwback to the 1990s. It
seems utterly irrelevant to the post-9/11 era, a threat dwarfed
by (depending on whom you listen to) either terrorism or
losing our liberties to the war on terrorism. Eric Wasserman,
executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (FIRE), says many people have a knee-jerk
reaction to the very phrase political correctness, seeing it as an old story.
"Campus Censorship," Charles Haynes, Naples Daily News, May 17, 2004
