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

Media Coverage

  • "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.