Suffolk County Community College: Abuse of Harassment and Intimidation Charges to Silence Student Journalist
Ursula Monaco, a fifty-five year old grandmother and student at the Suffolk Country Community College found herself censored when she accidently replied to an e-mail that she intended to forward to a friend, using the word "c*nt" to refer to the e-mail's sender, a SCCC Professor. She was charged with "[v]erbally abusing, threatening, intimidating, harassing, coercing or engaging in any other conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person," and "[m]isusing or using without authority or in violation of law, the College's information technology or telecommunications systems." Found guilty of both charges, Ms. Monaco was prevented from joining any student organization for the period of her probation. In addition, she was not allowed to submit any material for publication in the student newspapers, a move clearly intended to suppress Ms. Monaco's political speech. Monaco also found herself reprimanded for speaking to a non-student publication. Letters from FIRE were sent to three SCCC Presidents: La Lima, Pippins, and Ramos. Ultimately, Ms. Monaco's record was expunged when Interim President Pippins found that no real harassment had occurred.
"Playing a Dangerous Game," Greg Lukianoff and Azhar Majeed, Inside Higher Ed, September 2, 2005: Unfortunately, many colleges — eager to ban speech that administrators or students do not like — have latched onto the “threat” exception of the First Amendment to justify banning speech that is not actually threatening (as the term has been defined by the law) but instead is merely offensive to the listener. Redefining a “threat” as anything that offends is a dangerous game that discredits accusers, underestimates students’ ability to cope with ideas they dislike, and trivializes the seriousness of actual threats of violence.
