The Torch
July 14, 2008
Keith John Sampson has received a letter from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Chancellor Charles R. Bantz apologizing for the poor treatment he received at the hands of the university. In the letter, Bantz reaffirms that the university's Affirmative Action Office was wrong to conclude that Sampson's act of reading a book during his work breaks constituted racial harassment. Bantz further states that he now considers the matter resolved. However, university relations officials at IUPUI have made recent public statements to the effect that the harassment finding against Sampson stemmed from other, undisclosed conduct, thus preventing the matter from being truly resolved. While Bantz's letter constitutes progress on the part of IUPUI, the public smearing of Sampson remains unacceptable.
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Update: July 17, 2008, Read More About Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis: Student employee found guilty of 'racial harassment' for reading a book »
The Torch
July 10, 2008
Given the unprecedented revolt of faculty and students at Brandeis University, FIRE has called on President Jehuda Reinharz to rescind the ill-conceived finding of guilt against Professor Donald Hindley in order to restore order and Brandeis University's good name. This revolt has involved multiple unanimous faculty resolutions against the administration, faculty reports demonstrating that Brandeis administrators violated Professor Donald Hindley's academic freedom and due process rights, the withdrawal of faculty support for the school's harassment policy, the suspension of hearing new faculty grievances, and withering public attention. The faculty is rightly concerned about the "chilling atmosphere concerning free speech" at Brandeis since Provost Marty Krauss placed a monitor in Hindley's classes and threatened him with termination after he criticized the term "wetbacks" in class. FIRE is asking the 160 recipients of copies of our letter to contact President Reinharz and urge him to end this sorry chapter of Brandeis's history.
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Update: July 9, 2008, Read More About Brandeis University: Professor Found Guilty of Harassment for Protected Speech »
Press Release
July 8, 2008
Two months ago, in the face of withering public criticism, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) revoked its original finding that student-employee Keith John Sampson had committed racial harassment by reading a book at work that celebrated the defeat of the Ku Klux Klan in a 1924 street brawl. Now, IUPUI is claiming that Sampson was in fact punished for some other behavior, but the school refuses to reveal any details of this alleged conduct. FIRE is calling on IUPUI to either reveal and prove this alleged offense or stop publicly smearing its own student.
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Update: July 17, 2008, Read More About Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis: Student employee found guilty of 'racial harassment' for reading a book »
FIRE Update
July 7, 2008
The July 7 edition of The Wall Street Journal prominently features a column about the disturbing case of student-employee Keith John Sampson at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis. In May, FIRE reported that Sampson had been cleared of charges of "racial harassment" for reading a book at work that celebrated the defeat of the Ku Klux Klan by Notre Dame students in a 1924 street brawl. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dorothy Rabinowitz prominently mentions FIRE's role in her story about Sampson's case and its aftermath.
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The Torch
July 3, 2008
As our nation enjoys the holiday weekend and celebrates Independence Day, FIRE is reminded that many colleges and universities continue to disregard the fundamental rights immortalized by the First Amendment and promised in their own materials. The schools that are the worst of the worst when it comes to individual rights on campus get placed on FIRE's Red Alert list—and so far, a total of five schools have earned their spots. To learn more about these schools' violations of student and faculty rights, take a look at our Red Alert list. Let us remember our freedoms this Fourth of July!
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The Torch
July 1, 2008
FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for July 2008: Delta State University. Delta State's harassment policy provides that harassment occurs when the work or learning environment "is one that a reasonable person would objectively find hostile or abusive or one that the particular person who is the object of the harassment perceives to be hostile or abusive." (Emphasis added.) Defining harassment on the basis of the perception of the allegedly harassed individual completely eliminates any semblance of objectivity in Delta State's harassment policy. In other words, harassment occurs when either a reasonable or an unreasonable person finds the environment to be hostile. This means that students at Delta State are at the mercy of the most sensitive members of the community—if they feel harassed, they have been harassed, no matter how unreasonable those feelings may be. Delta State's policy stands in stark contrast to applicable First Amendment law, which Delta State—as a public institution—is bound to uphold. Moreover, it is a moral outrage. Under this speech code, students at Delta State must tailor their expression to avoid offending those with the most tender sensibilities, a requirement that undoubtedly has a powerful chilling effect on expression at the university. Delta State's harassment policy undermines the entire purpose of a university, turning it into a place where people walk on eggshells rather than the marketplace of ideas it is supposed to be.
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The Torch
June 30, 2008
Valdosta State University President Ronald M. Zaccari retires today, leaving behind an embarrassing legacy of contempt for his students' constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due process. Under Zaccari, Valdosta State University (VSU) earned the ignominious distinction of being just one of five schools on FIRE's Red Alert list, signifying VSU's status as one of the "worst of the worst" in the nation with regards to liberty on campus. Zaccari secured VSU's spot as the only public university on our Red Alert list by personally ordering the expulsion of student T. Hayden Barnes for engaging in protected political speech―an expulsion that was later overturned by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and is currently the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit. Zaccari also oversaw VSU's blatantly unconstitutional free speech zone, which limits free expression to just one tiny stage on the school's Main Campus comprising less than 1% of the school's total campus acreage. Zaccari's retirement comes six months earlier than he had originally planned. For students wishing to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free expression at Valdosta State University, however, Zaccari's retirement comes not a day too soon.
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Update: June 27, 2008, Read More About Valdosta State University: Student Expelled for Peacefully Protesting Parking Garages »
Press Release
June 26, 2008
The Chair of Colorado College's (CC's) Board of Trustees has affirmed the school's actions in finding that student Chris Robinson and another student wishing to remain anonymous violated CC's "violence" policy for posting a flyer that parodied a flyer of the Feminist and Gender Studies program. In a letter to FIRE, Board of Trustees Chair David van Diest Skilling wrote that "the College acted correctly in their handling of the students' behavior" and that "there is no need for further action." FIRE continues to call on CC to remove the guilty verdict from the students' files immediately and to stand by its own promises of freedom of expression.
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Update: June 28, 2008, Read More About Colorado College: Students Found Guilty for Satirical Flyer »
The Torch
June 17, 2008
Every month, FIRE selects a college or university with a particularly egregious speech code as our Speech Code of the Month. The program has been very successful: since its inception two years ago, nine schools have changed their policies as a result of being named Speech Code of the Month. Today, we are turning up the heat on censorship even more with the introduction of our Speech Code of the Month Widget. By adding the widget to your blog or website, you can help expose these repressive speech codes by sharing this information with your readers. And if you send us a link to your site with the widget posted on it and your mailing address, we'll send you a free FIRE mug as well. Adding the Speech Code of the Month Widget to your site is easy; just follow the instructions after the jump.
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The Torch
June 9, 2008
In a victory for free speech on campus, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has completely revised its "Personal Abuse" policy, which FIRE named its April 2007 Speech Code of the Month. Prior to amendment, FGCU's policy prohibited "lewd, indecent, racist, prejudice [sic], obscene, or expressions deemed inappropriate." The updated version of the "Personal Abuse" policy now prohibits only "[v]iolence, threat of violence or disregard of potential harm to others or against oneself or actions which endanger any member or guest of the University community, including physical, verbal, or sexual assault and relationship/domestic violence." While "verbal assault" is still vague, there is no question that this policy is a vast improvement over its predecessor. Unfortunately, however, student speech is still not truly free at FGCU, because other restrictive policies remain on the books. Today, FIRE calls on FGCU to eliminate all of its speech codes and grant students the rights to which they are legally and morally entitled.
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