University of Chicago: Censorship of Student’s Online Speech by University Police
Category: Free Speech
Schools:
University of Chicago
Transcript: Investigator Martinez (UCPD) & Joseph Dozier
Screen Capture of Tex Dozier’s Facebook Page
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University Of Chicago Censors Student’s Post On Facebook
March 26, 2010
The University of Chicago has censored a student’s post on a private Facebook page. Undergraduate Joseph “Tex” Dozier posted a joke that he had had a dream about assassinating University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer “for a secret Israeli organization.” Mr. Mearsheimer is co-author of the controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. This post prompted an investigator from the university’s police department to question Mr. Dozier about his political views, suggest that he would investigate Dozier’s comments on his university radio show and demand that Dozier remove the post or else have the post reported to Mr. […]
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U. of Chicago Student Questions University’s Reaction to Facebook Post
March 25, 2010
by Jill Laster The Chronicle of Higher Education A student at the University of Chicago says an innocent status update on Facebook led to an investigation by university police. Joseph Dozier, a third-year political-science and classics student, posted a comment on his Facebook page on December 6 saying “Dreamt that I assassinated John Mearsheimer for a secret Israeli organization-there was a hidden closet with Nazi paraphanelia [sic]. Haha! :-)” Mr. Mearsheimer, who has been one of Mr. Dozier’s instructors, is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. Mr. Dozier told The Chronicle that his post referred […]
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Which One Is a Real Threat?
March 26, 2010
Which of the following expressive activities deserves more than a cursory investigation and perhaps also punishment? A. Someone sends New York Representative Louise Slaughter a message saying, according to Politico, that “snipers were being deployed to kill” the children of members of Congress who had voted in favor of recent health care legislation. B. When asked about his feelings of the American public school system, an education critic says, “I say let’s blow it up.” C. Someone comments about the model in a photograph about a new competitor to the Segway, “Totally unattractive pose … [t]he photographer should be shot.” […]
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U. of Chicago Student Questions University’s Reaction to Facebook Post
March 25, 2010
by Jill Laster The Chronicle of Higher Education A student at the University of Chicago says an innocent status update on Facebook led to an investigation by university police. Joseph Dozier, a third-year political-science and classics student, posted a comment on his Facebook page on December 6 saying “Dreamt that I assassinated John Mearsheimer for a secret Israeli organization-there was a hidden closet with Nazi paraphanelia [sic]. Haha! :-)” Mr. Mearsheimer, who has been one of Mr. Dozier’s instructors, is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. Mr. Dozier told The Chronicle that his post referred […]
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Is This How You Would Treat a ‘Death Threat’?
March 24, 2010
FIRE has received a couple of e-mails since today’s press release went out from correspondents who believe that, in fact, the University of Chicago did the right thing by investigating and censoring undergraduate student Tex Dozier’s Facebook statement that he had a dream that he had assassinated one of his professors, John Mearsheimer, co-author of the controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, on behalf of a “secret Israeli organization.” Here’s the exact quote, in context with several of the student’s adjoining Facebook status updates (in chronological order, with identifying information redacted as ***): Homemade Indian feast compliments […]
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Facebook/Twitter Joke about ‘Israel Lobby’ Author’s Assassination Leads to Police Investigation at University of Chicago
March 24, 2010
For the second time in two years, the University of Chicago has censored a student’s post on a private Facebook page. Undergraduate Joseph “Tex” Dozier posted a joke that he had dreamt about assassinating University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer “for a secret Israeli organization.” This post prompted an investigator from the university’s police department to question Dozier about his political views, suggest that he would investigate Dozier’s comments on his university radio show, and demand that Dozier remove the post or else have the post reported to Mearsheimer, one of his professors. FIRE’s press release has taken Dozier’s case […]
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University of Chicago Repeatedly Censors Student Facebook Posts
March 24, 2010
CHICAGO, March 24, 2010—For the second time in two years, the University of Chicago has censored a student’s post on a private Facebook page. Undergraduate Joseph “Tex” Dozier posted a joke that he had had a dream about assassinating University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer “for a secret Israeli organization.” Mearsheimer is co-author of the controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. This post prompted an investigator from the university’s police department to question Dozier about his political views, suggest that he would investigate Dozier’s comments on his university radio show, and demand that Dozier remove the post or else have […]
» Read More