Northeastern Illinois University: Suppression of Affirmative Action Bake Sale
At Northeastern Illinois University, administrators had warned the members of the College Republicans that both the students and the group would be punished if they held a campus protest against affirmative action. NEIU Dean of Students Michael Kelly e-mailed the student organization informing them that the protest would violate the school's nondiscrimination policy. Dean Kelly wrote that "[v]iolating University rules can and will result in charges being filed," and that "any disruption of university activities that would be caused by this event is also actionable...." FIRE wrote the school, demanding the group be allowed to stage their protest as it is within their First Amendment rights to do so. The university soon relented, and the College Republicans were allowed to hold the bake sale with "no preconditions."
Case Materials
"Bake Sale Battles Continue: FIRE Gains Victory at NEIU, Turns Sights on Grand Valley State University," FIRE Press Release, April 8, 2005: In a victory for free speech on campus, Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) has decided to allow the College Republicans to hold an affirmative action bake sale protest on campus with “no preconditions.” FIRE received written confirmation of the change on Wednesday afternoon, less than 36 hours after publicizing the university's unconstitutional threat to punish the group if they held the protest. At the same time that NEIU changed course, however, FIRE learned that Grand Valley State University in Michigan was proceeding with plans to try its College Republicans on “discrimination” charges related to their bake sale protest.
"Northeastern Illinois University Bans Affirmative Action Bake Sale, Threatens Protestors with Punishment," FIRE Press Release, April 5, 2005: Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) has warned the members of the College Republicans that both the students and the group will be punished if they hold a campus protest against affirmative action. The student group canceled its planned “affirmative action bake sale” protest after NEIU’s dean of students warned them in an e-mail that to hold such a sale would violate NEIU’s “nondiscrimination” policy. NEIU, which allowed a feminist group to hold a similar “pay equity bake sale” protest on campus, is the latest in a string of schools nationwide that have attempted to shut down these protests against affirmative action.
"The Chill Is Nothing New," Greg Lukianoff, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2005: Some would like to imagine that the excesses of "political correctness” are ancient history, but repression in the name of tolerance hasn't gone anywhere. Oppressive speech codes are not only still around—they have actually multiplied, even after numerous court decisions declared them unconstitutional.
"10 great cigars and why I smoked them," Mike Adams, Townhall.com, June 13, 2005: I smoked my first CAO Cameroon the week that the FIRE defeated speech codes at two American campuses on two consecutive days. Where do these guys get all their energy?
"Baking With Fire," 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. The sales are political parody, of course, poking fun at affirmative action policies and trying to get a debate going. Campus orthodoxy holds that such policies are sacred and that any dissent, even in the form of satirical cookie prices, is illegitimate and deserving of suppression.
