Cornell University

Cornell University: Student Group’s Sign Display Removed from Engineering Quad

October 20, 2008

A pro-life student group’s university approved signs were confiscated by an administrator shortly after students erected their display. The signs contained information regarding fetal development. The students were forced to turn to the university police in order to regain their property because the administrator could not believe the signs could be approved given their “content.” Amazingly, the Cornell administration is defending this indefensible action, pretending that it was only a misunderstanding that caused the display to be confiscated and removed.

Event Registration Form

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Events that must be registered using the EventReg form includes (but are not limited to): … Events that take place outdoors. … Events that may be seen as controversial and/or high risk. … Events should be registered at least three weeks prior to the start date. Student organizations may be fined for late filing, or lack of filing a Event Registration form (see http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/docs/uup.pdf for more information).

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Student Organization Handbook: General policies for student organizations- Rallies

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Many organizations use rallies on campus as forums to present views on campus, national, and world issues. Title One (Statement of Principles and Policies), Article III (Responsible Speech and Expression) of the Campus Code of Conduct outlines the university policy on responsible speech and expression. Rally organizers are expected to be familiar with this section of the campus code, assure each speaker’s right to free speech, and take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of speakers and participants. The rally space is located on Ho Plaza between WSH and the Campus Store. To reserve this space, organizations must make reservations on-line using the R25 Reservation System, and complete the Event Registration Form. In accordance with the campus noise ordinance, and to minimize the potential for disruption of classes, amplified sound is permitted on campus only between the hours of noon and 1 p.m. on weekdays. This is the only time organizations may use a microphone or megaphone at rallies.

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Bias Reporting: What is Bias?

Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Under Cornell’s specific definition, a bias incident is action taken that one could reasonably and prudently conclude is motivated, in whole or in part, by the alleged offender’s bias against an actual or perceived aspect of diversity, including, but not limited to, age, ancestry or ethnicity, color, creed, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, height, immigration or citizenship status, marital status, national origin, race, religion, religious practice, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or weight.

[…]

What to do:

If you have seen, heard, or experienced bias, you can make a report in the following ways:

• Department of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity at (607) 255-1426
• Report_Bias@cornell.edu
• Reporting form

[…]

This confidential report will result in:

• Appropriate involvement/communication from the Reporting Bias System staff in the Department of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity (DIWD)
• Intervention with the agent, target, and witness(es) of the bias activity with assistance from the Bias Assessment & Review Team (BART), which includes the Office of the Judicial Administrator, Office of Workforce Policy and Labor Relations, and Cornell University Police
• Follow up with the reporting person if desired

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House Rules

Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Behavior in common areas should conform to the standards of the community as a whole. Loud, offensive, or lewd behavior or language directed at anyone (including staff) is not acceptable. Residents should exercise good judgment and demonstrate consideration of others when using common areas.

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Campus Code of Conduct: Responsible Speech and Expression – Demonstrations not Involving Structures

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Outdoor picketing, marches, rallies, and other demonstrations are traditional and legitimate forms of self-expression and dissent on campus. Such activities are allowed so long as demonstrators do not disrupt other functions, including, without limitation, regular and special curricular activities, extracurricular activities, academic processions and events, conduct of University business, and employment interviews. The right to free expression here, as in other contexts, requires respect for the rights of others. Outdoor picketing, marches, rallies, and other demonstrations generally pose no threat of long-lasting exclusive use of University grounds or property. No university permit is required for such outdoor activities. The presence of a counter-protest does not itself constitute a disruption to a University function or 8 authorized event. Moreover, those who oppose a speaker may thus make their views known. Everyone has the right to be heard and to listen to others.

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Campus Code of Conduct: Regulations for the Maintenance of the Educational Environment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: April 26, 2018

To harass another person by … by acting toward that person in a manner that is by objective measure threatening, abusive, or severely annoying and that is beyond the scope of free speech.

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Campus Code of Conduct: Responsible Speech and Expression- Disruption of Invited Speakers

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Because it is a special kind of community, whose purpose is the discovery of truth through the practice of free inquiry, a university has an essential dependence on a commitment to the values of unintimidated speech. To curb speech on the grounds that an invited speaker is noxious, that a cause is evil, or that such ideas will offend some listeners is therefore inconsistent with a university’s purpose. One may argue against inviting a speaker on the grounds that the speaker has nothing of importance to say. But once members of the university community extend an invitation, others may not disrupt the speech on the grounds that they find it stupid, immoral, or dangerous.

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Procedures for Resolution of Reports Against Students Under Cornell University Policy 6.4

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: April 26, 2018

Sexual Harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, nonverbal, graphic, physical, or otherwise, when the conditions outlined in (1) or (2), below, are present.

…

Such conduct creates a hostile environment. A hostile environment exists when the conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits, or deprives an individual’s participating in or benefitting from the University’s education or employment programs or activities. Conduct must be deemed severe, persistent, or pervasive from both a subjective and an objective perspective.

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Should Professors Have ‘Trigger Warnings’?

August 5, 2016

By Laura LaVacca at Campus News Warning! What you read may offend you… Read more here.

Inside Cornell’s 95 Bias Incidents: Offended Students, Employees Turn in Peers

May 27, 2016

By Peter Hasson at The Daily Caller Over the course of the 2015-16 school year Cornell students and employees filed 95 reports of “bias incidents” — almost double of the number of reports in 2014-15 and four times the number of reports in 2011-12, according to university records… Read more here.

Title IX as a Threat to Academic Freedom

March 24, 2016

By Colleen Flaherty at Inside Higher Ed The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights brought needed attention to the problem of sexual assault and harassment on college campuses with its 2011 letter telling institutions to enforce the law. But in so doing, the office has created a slew of new problems with implications for free speech and academic freedom. That’s the premise of a lengthy new report from the American Association of University Professors. … Read more here.

Cornell’s Insane Christmas Decoration Rules: No Santa Claus, Holly, or Trees with Bows

December 23, 2015

By Robby Soave at Reason.com At Cornell University, students and staff can celebrate the holidays by putting up snowflake decorations and trees. They can even put the snowflakes on the trees. But they can’t do anything else—if they decorate said trees with bows, garland, or lights, for instance, they will be in violation of Cornell’s Guidelines for Inclusive Seasonal Displays. The guidelines, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, were actually issued by the university’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety—meaning that the university implicitly endorses the notion that emotional safety is just as important as physical safety. […]

Deck This! Angels, Stars Banished From Christmas Trees

December 23, 2015

By Bob Unruh at WND.com The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education on Wednesday used a commentary on its website to cite Cornell University for the “chill” it is imposing this year on students who may want to express their holiday traditions or beliefs. For example, a tree is all right as a decoration. So are snowflakes. But a tree with lights isn’t, unless there’s an appropriate “dialogue” within the “unit or living area.” Under no circumstances are angels appropriate, the school has announced. Neither is mistletoe. And banished, too, are stars when they are “at the top of trees.” […]

Fitting: Cornell Bans Everything but Snowflakes From Holiday Decorations

December 18, 2015

By Staff at The College Fix “Snowflake” has become a term of derision for people who are easily offended, particularly regarding perceived slights based on race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. It’s fitting, then, that Cornell University’s “guidelines for inclusive seasonal displays” would order students not to put up any decorations with the slightest hint of religious significance – leaving them to have fun with snowflakes. Flagged by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the “Fire Safety Guidelines For Holiday Displays” – last revised Nov. 19 by Cornell Fire Marshall Ron Flynn – veer off their stated purpose by the end […]

How Parents can Avoid Spending Thousands on Colleges that Host Student Storm-Troopers

December 1, 2015

By Thomas Sowell at New York Post Storm trooper tactics by bands of college students making ideological demands across the country, and immediate pre-emptive surrender by college administrators — such as at the University of Missouri recently — bring back memories of the 1960s for those of us old enough to remember what it was like being there and seeing firsthand how painful events unfolded. At Harvard back in 1969, students seized control of the administration building and began releasing to the media information from confidential personnel files of professors. But when university president Nathan Pusey called in the police […]

Ivy League Schools Stomp On Freedom Of Speech

November 20, 2015

By Kathryn Watson at The Daily Caller  Five of the nation’s eight Ivy League schools impose huge restrictions on the First Amendment speech rights of their students, according to ratings from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). As allegations of racial discrimination fuel campus protests and spark free-speech challenges across the country, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University and Princeton University all receive “red light” ratings — the worst in FIRE’s red, yellow and green light rating system — for having policies that significantly restrict free expression. Yale University and Dartmouth College both receive “yellow light” ratings for […]

Colleges Will Pay for Stifling Diversity of Ideology

October 21, 2015

By Patrick Everson at Las Vegas Review-Journal Colleges and universities are supposed to be marketplaces of ideas, but that’s less and less true today. While higher education systems champion diversity of race, ethnicity and sexual identity, they’re completely unconcerned with diversity of ideology. Nothing highlighted that better than a story last week from The Cornell Daily Sun, an independent, student-run newspaper serving the Cornell University community. Phoebe Keller and Emily Friedman reported that more than 96 percent of Cornell faculty donations to political candidates over the past four years went to Democrats. Out of 323 donors, only 15 gave to conservative […]

Students For Justice In Palestine Display At Cornell Repeatedly Vandalized

November 13, 2014

By Greg Piper at The College Fix The Cornell Daily Sun has a curious story about a school-authorized Students for Justice in Palestine display in the Arts Quad being vandalized. The initial vandalism appears to have happened because someone had internalized the idea that you can’t speak until you get permission. According to SJP activist Alec Desbordes, the Daily Sun reports, the 50 signs were up less than three hours “when a student — who declined to give comment to The Sun — pulled up several of the signs until she was confronted by members of SJP”: SJP’s blog post incorrectly […]

C.U. policies could limit free speech

September 2, 2009

By Dani Neuharth-Keusch at The Cornell Daily Sun Student activism is a long-standing tradition at Cornell, and the University’s creed pledges full and equal protection of students’ rights; but there is a devil in the details. Cornell’s policies on harassment, tolerance, respect and civility contain so-called speech codes – “Trojan horses” embedded within University guidelines that limit the scope of free speech on campus. William Creeley, director of legal and public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, addressed this topic, and the overlying issue of students’ First Amendment rights, yesterday evening in Goldwin Smith Hall. “There’s a discrepancy,” he […]

Backing expression over suppression

October 27, 2008

Especially in the midst of a hard-fought presidential campaign, free expression on college campuses remains a heated topic, with reports of student vandalism of political displays they don’t like, or administrations disinviting speakers who are deemed too controversial, surfacing periodically. Since students in college tend to be more liberal as a group than Americans as a whole, critics of higher education regularly charge that conservative views are more likely to be squelched by vandals or officials. But that’s not entirely the case: some Catholic institutions, for instance, have received flak or distanced themselves from pro-life speakers who support Barack Obama […]

Schools discipline students over Internet content

February 22, 2006

Four Syracuse University students punished for trashing their teacher on Facebook.com joined the growing number of students nationally whose school has held them accountable for what they put on the Internet. “Criticism can be considered a matter of free speech. In this particular situation it was the content, and the content was considered as being reviewable as a possible violation of the university code of student conduct,” said Kevin Morrow, speaking for SU. “The language and the phrasing of these Facebook postings were extreme.” Some students use Facebook.com as their personal diary. They post pictures and information such as their […]

Conformity on Campus

June 1, 2005

We hear a lot these days about the importance of diversity in ensuring that ideas are heard fairly. But the individuals who are most insistent about this are interested only in racial and sex diversity. Intellectual and ideological diversity is not what the enforcers of political correctness on campuses and other sectors have in mind. This magazine has helped pioneer evidence of how politically unbalanced most college campuses have become. Most recently (see our January/February 2005 issue) we presented the findings of University of California economist Daniel Klein, who found that the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in social sciences […]

University reverses policy on faith groups

May 13, 2005

Nassau Hall has reversed its policy on the recognition of religious student groups after being contacted by an outside civil liberties organization that protested the treatment of one such group as an “ongoing injustice.” Under the new policy, religious student groups with ties to faith organizations without established “campus ministries” will be considered for official student group status using the same criteria as other groups. Previously, such student groups were denied recognition. The policy change allowed Princeton Faith and Action (PFA), a new evangelical group, to seek official student group status — which it was recently granted. PFA is affiliated […]

No Myth: Conservatives in Academia Suffer Discrimination

October 15, 2004

In a recent Sun column, (“Reclaim Your Victimhood,” Sept. 24), Danny Pearlstein, skeptical of the notion that conservatives in academia suffer discrimination, challenged conservatives “to send me concrete instances” of such. As the French would say, “chiche!” — dare accepted. Pearlstein’s challenge was, at least from his perspective, ill-timed. For within 48 hours came a glaring example of anti-conservative discrimination at Cornell, courtesy of the Student Assembly(SA): The SA’s blatantly political attempt to defund The Cornell American, one of the very few conservative student groups on campus. The attempted defunding was done in reliance on a newly-adopted, ex post facto […]

Beware of universities that wear diversity label

April 14, 2004

In far too many instances, what passes as college life and education today is no less than shameful. Under the name of diversity and political correctness, billions of taxpayer dollars and donor contributions are used to promote what might be charitably called enlightened racism, uniformity of thought and political proselytizing. Let’s look at some of it.The student code of Shippensburg University, in Pennsylvania, said that students had a “right to express a personal belief system” but only if such expression did not “demean,” “annoy” or “alarm” others. Thus, if a student expressed a distaste for race or sex preferences in […]

Thought Police Haze Fraternity

March 16, 2004

Liberal Group-Think

December 2, 2003

Speech tariffs: Cornell’s impending security fees

July 12, 2018

Walking up the steps to Cornell University’s Kennedy Auditorium this past spring, I was expecting a larger crowd. Dick Cheney was invited to speak by the Cornell Republicans and there had been talk for weeks about large, organized protests to his presence on campus. But as I approached the door to the auditorium, I was met by only a small handful of protesters, numbering twenty at most. They played music, chanted “Palestine will be free,” and raised painted signs. Their peaceful activity greatly contrasted with the number of police officers all around — two at the front door, four in […]

Cornell professors: ‘No viable alternative’ to free speech on campus

May 9, 2018

Author Cynthia Meyersburg is a psychology research fellow with FIRE’s ongoing Speech, Outreach, Advocacy, and Research (SOAR) project. She has a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. This month, Inside Higher Ed published an opinion piece by Wendy M. Williams and Stephen J. Ceci with a message that resonates with me: “[T]here really is no viable alternative to allowing free speech on college campuses.” Williams and Ceci, both psychology professors at Cornell University, are among the best known and most respected researchers in psychological science. Williams’ work, both her research on intelligence, and her national outreach program to promote science […]

Cornell law professors stress importance of cross-examination and following institutional procedures in amici brief

April 5, 2018

Last week, 23 Cornell Law School professors filed an amici curiae (“friends of the court”) brief in Doe v. Cornell University, a case in which a Cornell student identified by the  pseudonym John Doe alleged that the university failed to follow its own written disciplinary procedures for sexual misconduct cases in order to deprive him of an opportunity to question his accuser, even indirectly. Cornell’s written policy doesn’t allow parties in sexual misconduct hearings to directly question each other, but it states, “The Hearing Chair will approve in substance all questions or topics that are relevant and that are not […]

Professor rightly cautions Cornell on celebrating its FIRE due process rating

September 12, 2017

Last week, FIRE released our groundbreaking new report, Spotlight on Due Process, which rated the disciplinary policies of 53 top universities on whether they contained basic elements of fair procedure, such as the guarantee of a presumption of innocence, adequate notice of charges, and a right to appeal. What we found is that very few schools cleared even the lowest bar of basic fairness. Of the 53 schools we rated, 45 received a D or F rating. Last week, The Cornell Daily Sun reported on the fact that Cornell University had tied for the highest score in our report with […]

Speech Code Countdown: ‘U.S. News’ Top 25 College Rankings, Numbers 19-11

October 6, 2016

FIRE’s U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” Countdown continues today. We’re giving you a school-by-school analysis of just how well America’s “Best Colleges” do when it comes to protecting free speech on campus. Unfortunately, in today’s crop of top campuses, troubling speech codes abound. As part of FIRE’s fresh look at U.S. News’ top-ranked colleges, we used information from our Spotlight speech code database as well as information on other headline-making free speech news that applicants should know about before they apply to a given school. FIRE rates schools’ speech codes using a traffic light-inspired system. A “red light” […]

Due Process Legal Update: Students’ Title IX and Due Process Claims Move Forward, But Challenges Remain

March 1, 2016

As I’ve written about on many previous occasions, there are a large number of ongoing lawsuits by students alleging that through unfair campus sexual misconduct proceedings, their institutions violated their constitutional due process rights, breached contracts, and discriminated against them on the basis of sex. In the past eight days alone, there have been four new opinions issued in cases at Brown University, Cornell University, George Mason University, and The Ohio State University, and all but one of those decisions had favorable results for due process and fair procedure on campus. Notably, two of the favorable opinions come from lawsuits […]

Cornell’s Decorating Rules: You Can Put Up Anything You Want As Long As It’s a Snowflake

December 16, 2015

Cornell University’s Department of Environmental Health & Safety recently issued fire safety guidance for holiday decorations with sensible prohibitions against hazards such as “combustible decorations” and burning candles. Nothing to concern FIRE, one would think. But as one astute FIRE supporter recently found, restrictions on free expression can pop up in the strangest places. Sure enough, the final section of the guidance veers off from physical safety into rules apparently designed to ensure some kind of ephemeral, emotional safety. The introduction to the guidelines notes that “more than 25 religious organizations” operate at Cornell and that many of them “do […]

Cornell Approves New Speech-Friendly Outdoor Space Policy

September 11, 2015

Sometimes, no matter how much FIRE warns it in advance, it can take an ugly incident for a university to fully grasp the problems that arise from policies that unduly inhibit freedom of expression on campus. And FIRE has repeatedly warned colleges and universities that advance notice and permitting requirements for outdoor demonstrations, rallies, and other expressive activity can present an unacceptable—and at public universities, unconstitutional—obstacle to the free exchange of ideas that the campus setting is supposed to incubate. Take, for example, a 2013 incident at the University of Alabama (UA), where a pro-choice student group was threatened with […]

Cornell Students Forget Vandalism Is a Crime, Censor Pro-Palestine Display

November 11, 2014

Last month, Cornell University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter placed 50 signs critically highlighting Israel’s relationship with and policies affecting Palestine in the school’s Arts Quad. It took only three hours for a student to attempt to censor the group by removing the display. SJP members managed to stop this student, but others quickly took up where she left off. By the time the group decided to shut down the event three days later, most of the signs had been stolen or destroyed. SJP member Alec Desbordes spoke to Cornell’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, pointing out […]

Cornell Conditions Student Group Funding on ‘Diversity and Inclusion Plan’

May 12, 2014

Cornell University’s Student Assembly (SA) has passed a resolution calling for scores of student organizations to demonstrate a plan to enlist membership that is demographically similar to the rest of the student body. According to Campus Reform, groups that do not submit a “Diversity and Inclusion Plan” will not be eligible for funding from Cornell’s Student Assembly Finance Commission (SAFC), which funds registered student groups on campus using mandatory student activity fees.

Cornell Becomes Latest College to Incorporate “Two-Tier” Disciplinary Process Following OCR Mandate

April 27, 2012

Yesterday, I discussed the ramifications of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR’s) April 4, 2011, “Dear Colleague” letter for students at the University of North Carolina, which decided earlier this month to inaugurate a new “two-tier” disciplinary system to comply with OCR’s procedural mandates. Under the newly revised system, UNC students accused of misconduct like cheating, plagiarism, or drug and alcohol abuse will face a hearing using the “beyond a reasonable doubt” evidentiary standard employed in our criminal justice system, which has also traditionally been applied by UNC’s century-old Student Honor Court. In contrast, students facing serious […]

FIRE Asks Cornell to Preserve Due Process

April 11, 2012

Yesterday, FIRE asked Cornell University President David Skorton to choose robust student due process rights over the weak evidentiary standard required by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). In our letter, we argue that given the high stakes for students accused of sexual assault, they deserve much more than the “preponderance of the evidence” (more likely than not) evidentiary standard. Torch readers know that FIRE and many others have made this argument repeatedly, and in many forums, in the year following the release of OCR’s April 4, 2011, “Dear Colleague” letter. As we wrote yesterday, Cornell […]

Cornell Grad Urges University Not to Abandon Protections for the Accused

April 10, 2012

Cornell University graduate Mike Wacker has an excellent column in today’s Cornell Sun on the debate at Cornell over complying with the Department of Education’s April 4, 2011, “Dear Colleague” letter (DCL). As FIRE has pointed out, the DCL strips important due process protections from students accused of sexual harassment or sexual assault. Wacker hits on many of the problems that Cornell students and faculty members are having with the idea that campus trials for these serious offenses will now be far less thorough and reliable than those for, say, vandalism.  The entire column is a must-read. After summarizing the […]

Cornell Professor Finds Himself in Hot Water–An Ironic Reminder of the Value of Due Process

April 30, 2010

Grant Farred, an English and Africana Studies professor at Cornell University, has found himself under fire recently following a comment he made to two graduate students at a conference in February. Following the conclusion of a conference panel to which he had invited the students, both African-American females, to attend, Professor Farred allegedly said to them in private, “When you both walked in, I thought, ‘Who are these black bitches?’” When the students later told Farred that they were offended by his remark, he quickly apologized and stated that he meant no harm. It would seem that Farred was simply […]

Following President’s Statement, Cornell’s Religious Student Groups Should Brace for Disparate Treatment

April 15, 2010

Last week, I discussed Cornell University President David J. Skorton’s response to Student Assembly Resolution 44, which proposes to revise Cornell’s non-discrimination policy to restrict the ability of student groups to require that their voting members and leaders actually share the group’s core beliefs. The resolution, which passed the Student Assembly by a narrow vote back in February, requires Skorton’s approval before final adoption. However, as he did when presented with a similar resolution in 2009 (after being pressed by FIRE), Skorton declined to assent to the resolution without requesting changes and commenting further. Now that a few days have […]

Cornell President Responds to Student Assembly Resolution Limiting Freedom of Association

April 6, 2010

Cornell University President David J. Skorton issued a response yesterday afternoon to a Student Assembly (SA) resolution, narrowly passed in February, that seeks to limit the ability of student groups to require that their voting members and leaders actually share the group’s core beliefs. He has asked the SA to reconsider important parts of the resolution. Resolution 44, which requires President Skorton’s approval before enactment, states that student groups shall not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived age, ancestry or ethnicity, color, creed, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, height, immigration or citizenship status, marital status, national origin, […]

Cornell Continues Befuddlement over Freedoms of Religion and Association

February 22, 2010

According to The Cornell Daily Sun, last Thursday the Cornell Student Assembly passed “Resolution 44,” which, the Sun reports, mandates that “All students—regardless of color, ancestry, gender identity, religion and a variety of other characteristics and beliefs—can now vote and hold leadership positions in independent student organizations.” While this sounds good on its face, FIRE has thoroughly explained that such a broad policy threatens freedom of religion and association because it threatens the right of expressive groups on campus with minority viewpoints to protect the expressive purposes of the group. (Central Michigan University got an object lesson about this problem in […]

Former FIRE Intern John Cetta Speaks out for Freedom of Association at Cornell

February 12, 2010

Yesterday, Azhar wrote here on The Torch about the Cornell University Assembly’s (UA’s) decision this week to insert a new non-discrimination clause into the Campus Code of Conduct. As Azhar pointed out: Cornell has in the recent past used a non-discrimination rationale to deny a student organization, the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, the right to associate around shared beliefs. Last year, the Student Assembly froze the group’s funding because it removed a member from a leadership position after the student disavowed core tenets of the group’s beliefs. Given the misunderstanding of the freedom of association on Cornell’s campus, there is […]

Cornell University Assembly Votes to Pass Disputed Non-Discrimination Clause in Campus Code of Conduct

February 11, 2010

Cornell University’s University Assembly (UA) voted yesterday to include a disputed non-discrimination clause in the Campus Code of Conduct, the Cornell Daily Sun reports. The new clause, which expands the category of classes protected against discriminatory harassment on campus, provides insufficient protection for campus speech insofar as it applies a substantive standard for student-on-student harassment that falls short of the legal standard for peer harassment in education. The approved clause is the UA’s second attempt to add new language about discrimination in the student code; a first draft was approved by the UA last April, but Cornell President David J. […]

‘Cornell Daily Sun’ Explores Important Freedom of Association Issue, Previews Upcoming Supreme Court Decision in ‘Martinez’

January 20, 2010

An article in yesterday’s Cornell Daily Sun, a student newspaper at Cornell University, discusses the conflict between student organizations’ freedom of association and their schools’ nondiscrimination policies that has been at issue on many college campuses in recent years. Sun reporter Dani Neuharth-Keusch discusses the issue as it relates to an episode right on Cornell’s campus last year as well as the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, for which FIRE will be submitting an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief. We’re pleased to see the Sun pay such close attention to Martinez and the […]

How Students Made a Difference for Liberty in 2009

January 6, 2010

For the past few days FIRE has been looking back over our list of accomplishments in 2009. That list would not be complete without mentioning the students who have worked so hard to make their campuses more free. At the College of William & Mary, former FIRE intern and Campus Freedom Network member Braum Katz led a reform effort from within the student government as Student Assembly Secretary of Student Rights to revise all constitutionally problematic speech codes. In October, William & Mary eliminated the last of its troublesome policies and FIRE officially gave the college’s policies a green-light rating in […]

In Pages of ‘Cornell Sun,’ Students Pen Strong Rebuttals to Misguided Editorial

December 3, 2009

Last week here on The Torch, I criticized the Cornell Sun for publishing an editorial that misunderstood the core importance of freedom of association and its integral relationship to freedom of expression. This week, I’m pleased to be able to highlight Cornell students authoring their own incisive critiques of the editorial in the pages of the Sun. First, let’s recap the controversy that prompted the editorial and locate precisely where the Sun went wrong. Last spring, Chi Alpha Christian fellowship, a Christian student group at Cornell, requested that a student abdicate his leadership position in the organization after the student’s […]

‘Cornell Sun’ Editorial Misunderstands Freedom of Association

November 25, 2009

A disappointingly misguided editorial in yesterday’s Cornell Sun argues that a recent vote by Cornell’s University Assembly to protect freedom of association on campus amounts to an endorsement of “discrimination.” Unfortunately, The Sun‘s faulty reasoning reveals a meager understanding of the right to expressive association—a right protected by the First Amendment and decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence. As Luke explained here on The Torch yesterday, the University Assembly voted late last month to scuttle changes to Cornell’s Campus Code of Conduct that it had recommended in April. The proposed changes sought to prevent student groups from “discriminating against” students by […]

Cornell Assembly Scraps Illiberal Policy – For Now

November 23, 2009

The Cornell University Assembly has voted to remove part of a proposed policy in the Campus Code of Conduct that posed a significant threat to freedom of association. The Cornell Sun reports: After months of deliberation, the University Assembly passed a resolution this October to remove a clause from the Campus Code of Conduct designed to prevent special-interest student organizations from discriminating against certain groups in their criteria for membership. The resolution cited the need for more extensive debate on “the interplay of discrimination, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly” on campus. The policy was originally […]

Former FIRE Intern Encourages Reform at Cornell University in Letter to the Editor

September 24, 2009

2009 FIRE intern John Cetta has an incisive letter to the editor in today’s Cornell Sun responding to an article in yesterday’s Sun, “Panel Explores Free Speech and Religion.” John contends that the debate over religious liberty is “far more significant” than a discussion in the campus chapel about abstract freedoms. It has to do with campus-wide policies on free expression and free thought for all students. Yesterday, The Sun chronicled the dialogue that took place over religious freedom at Cornell. This debate is far more significant and urgent than some friendly academic sparring taking place in Sage Chapel, however. […]

Rights in the News: Class Back in Session for Violators of Campus Speech

September 4, 2009

Classes are barely in session, and already FIRE and its allies have hit the ground running. As Luke noted earlier, Will was at Cornell University this week discussing the “Trojan horses” of campus speech codes, including the ones which have resulted in Cornell’s current “red light” rating on FIRE’s Spotlight. Read the Cornell Daily Sun’s coverage for more on the start of what promises to be a very busy year for FIRE’s speakers bureau. Brandeis University undergraduate Daniel Ortner and Cornell undergraduate John Cetta, meanwhile, are busy putting their 2009 FIRE internship experiences to use, evidenced by Daniel’s most recent column for The Brandeis Hoot and John’s piece for The D.C. […]

Former FIRE Interns Criticize Ubiquitous Censorship at Their Universities

September 4, 2009

Two of this summer’s FIRE interns have started the year with a bang. Today, both published damning indictments of the state of free speech in higher education in general, and their own universities in particular. First, former FIRE intern John Cetta has an excellent article in The D.C. Writeup on free speech in higher education, titled “A Dark Time for the Academy, Indeed.” Beginning with Yale University Press’s shameful refusal to print the Danish Mohammed cartoons in a scholarly book about the cartoon controversy and going on to demonstrate how other institutions are engaged in the same degree of censorship, […]

FIRE Speech at Cornell a Success

September 3, 2009

As I mentioned earlier this week, FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley spoke at Cornell University on Tuesday night. Yesterday, The Cornell Daily Sun posted an article about Will’s speech. In his lecture to a packed room in Goldwin Smith Hall, Will talked about some of FIRE’s worst cases and the restrictive speech codes in force at most universities. According to FIRE’s third annual report on campus speech codes, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2009: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Campuses, 77 percent of public universities and 67 percent of private universities maintain illiberal policies […]

Will Creeley to Speak at Cornell

September 1, 2009

FIRE’s Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley will speak tonight at Cornell University. His lecture is titled “Liberty in Peril: Speech Codes on our Nation’s College Campuses.” The speech will take place at 6:00 p.m. (ET) in G22 Goldwin Smith Hall. In addition to having a red light rating for its problematic free speech policies, Cornell was the recent target of FIRE’s efforts when an administrator confiscated signs the Cornell Coalition for Life had erected in the engineering quad. Through FIRE’s efforts, the signs were returned to the students. Also, the Cornell Student Assembly tried to punish The […]

Intolerance of Tolerance: Cornell University, A Model of Illiberalism

August 6, 2009

This blog entry was authored by John Cetta, a student at Cornell University and FIRE summer intern. Cornell University’s disdain for free speech, due process, and other fundamental rights has been well documented and frequently commented upon since FIRE’s founding. Eleven years ago in The Shadow University, FIRE founders Harvey Silverglate and Alan Charles Kors described the denial of due process in the McCarthy-style inquisition of renowned Cornell psychology professor James Maas. Recently, FIRE criticized Cornell administrators’ lack of respect for the most basic free speech rights when an administrator, ostensibly acting under the guise of “unwritten policy,” attempted to censor the university-approved […]

Introducing FIRE Intern John Cetta

June 16, 2009

John Cetta is a senior at Cornell University where he is studying Industrial and Labor Relations. He is the managing editor and a staff writer for the Cornell University Pre-Law Journal, contributes to the Roosevelt Institution’s Equal Justice Center, is the treasurer of Cornell Coalition for Life, and is a representative on the University Assembly. John is also involved with the American Cancer Society as a legislative ambassador. On his dedication to free speech and why he came to FIRE, John writes, Studying at Cornell has afforded me a deep appreciation for individual rights, especially freedom of speech. This appreciation […]

The State of Free Speech on Campus: Cornell University

March 30, 2009

Throughout the spring semester, FIRE is drawing special attention to the state of free speech at America’s top 25 national universities (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report). Today we review policies at Cornell University, which FIRE has given a red-light rating for maintaining policies that clearly and substantially restrict free expression on campus. Since Cornell is a private university, not directly bound by the First Amendment, we must first examine whether students enrolling at Cornell would have a reasonable expectation of free speech rights. Cornell’s Campus Code of Conduct provides that Because it is a special kind of […]

Weekly Media Round-up: National Media Takes Quinnipiac to School, With FIRE’s Help

October 31, 2008

The national media has officially descended on Quinnipiac University (QU), with FIRE’s early efforts to end the injustices visited on the Quad News and the QU chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) helping to pave the way. FIRE’s press release issued Wednesday helped to bring a new wave of attention to QU’s shoddy treatment of the newly formed Quad News, as well as the administration’s threats against the SPJ for associating with that independent publication. Law professor Eugene Volokh is only one of many to take notice of FIRE’s warning to QU; the Free Expression Network and the […]

Weekly Media Round-up: FIRE’s Defense of Satire and Political Expression on Full Display

October 24, 2008

Earlier this week, FIRE blogged and issued a press release about Lone Star College–Tomball’s threats against the school’s Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) chapter for distributing a satirical and entirely protected “gun-safety” flyer. After pointing out the college’s exploitation of the tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois as a way to silence protected speech, we also castigated the administration for contemplating punishing YCT with probation or outright dissolution. As Adam pointed out in plain terms, “there is simply nothing to investigate and not a single reason to censor.” Lone Star’s completely unreasonable response has drawn the ire of numerous […]

Cornell Engineering Dean Digs Deeper Hole over Confiscation of Pro-Life Display

October 24, 2008

Ivy League folklore has it that Cornell’s alma mater actually begins like this: Far above Cayuga’s watersThere’s an awful smell;Some say it’s Cayuga’s waters,Some say it’s Cornell. Folklore has a way of encoding a certain amount of truth, and I finally have figured out what this verse refers to: the stench of disdain for expressive rights on the Cornell campus. Already there have been three troubling developments this year. First, Cornell has been criticized for monitoring and recording all Internet usage by students, which surely makes students think twice about what they research on the Internet. This policy was lampooned […]

Cornell University Engineering Staff Remove Students’ Pro-Life Display until Police Force Return of Display

October 22, 2008

Breaking news out of Cornell this morning: two administrators from Cornell’s College of Engineering were forced by the Cornell Police to relinquish a student group’s pro-life display, which they had removed from the ground and confiscated entirely because of the content of the display. According to the Cornell Coalition for Life (CCFL) and its spokeswoman, Tristen Cramer, CCFL set up six signs supporting its pro-life “Elena Campaign” in Cornell’s Engineering Quad. The signs were put up around 8:00 a.m. this morning. By 9:00 a.m., Administrative Assistant Dawn Warren had confiscated them and taken them to the Facilities Office of the […]

Cornell’s Hostility to Free Speech Hits a New Peak

September 29, 2008

The ongoing hostility to dissenting views at Cornell never fails to surprise. Most often manifested as hostility towards conservative newspapers on campus, censorship once again reared its ugly head yesterday as Cornell’s Student Assembly passed a resolution, which, according to the Cornell Sun campus newspaper, criticized The Cornell Review (a conservative student newspaper) for causing “alienation and intimidation.” What’s more, the resolution —known as “Resolution 6” —officially “encouraged the Office of the Dean of Students to work with the S.A. to revise the Campus Code of Conduct to prevent further ‘hateful terminology.’” The problem appears to have stemmed from the […]

‘The Cornell Review’ contretemps

September 29, 2008

Dartblog readers probably know that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), where I serve as Vice President, regularly fights college and university administrations who seek to suppress or punish students who exercise fundamental rights such as free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association. FIRE has a long history with Dartmouth, which until recently received our lowest, “red light” rating for the protection of free speech on campus. (The entire saga, including the correspondence between FIRE and Dartmouth’s attorneys as well as media coverage, is available at FIRE’s website.) Joe Malchow has generously invited me to post […]

At Cornell, Repressive Reform Proposals Tabled

March 23, 2007

Good news from Ithaca, New York—home of gorges, Professor Vladimir Nabokov, and, most famously, Cornell University.   Diligent Torch readers may remember that this past December, Cornell students and faculty were busy voicing their unhappiness with an official proposal for a dramatic overhaul of the university’s judicial code of conduct. Upon its release last April, the proposal—known as the Krause Report after its author, former Cornell Judicial Administrator Barbara Krause—generated widespread criticism from many corners of the Cornell community because it contained sweeping reductions of the due process and freedom of speech protections presently afforded to Cornell students and faculty. […]

Cornell’s Repressive, Regressive Conduct Code Proposal

December 15, 2006

At Cornell University, students and faculty members alike are voicing displeasure with a proposal for a new Campus Code of Conduct. Last November, then-Interim President Hunter R. Rawlings III commissioned Barbara Krause, a senior advisor, to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing Code of Conduct and propose changes in an effort to recalibrate what some consider out-of-date policy. Her proposals, aggregated in a document known as the Krause Report, were released this past April, and are now online and available for public review. While Cornell has yet to take an official position on the recommendations contained in the Report, […]

New President Spells Hope for Cornell

January 23, 2006

An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education today announces that David J. Skorton will become the new president of Cornell University. Skorton, currently the president of the University of Iowa, has made a name for himself as a defender of free speech and academic freedom. The Chronicle article says: At Iowa, Dr. Skorton has actively promoted the arts and humanities as well as scientific research, and he has defended a controversial speaker’s right to appear at his university. A few months after the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for vandalizing research laboratories and offices at the University of Iowa […]

More from Cornell

October 28, 2005

One of my first memories from college is hearing the dean of students at my alma mater refer to Cornell University as “that other school ending in -nell.” Given that, I probably shouldn’t be blogging on Cornell again so soon, but given the harshness of my last post, it seems the only fair thing to do. According to another piece in the Cornell Daily Sun, there was another “forum” on free speech there on October 26. This one seems to have been more closely related to the Cornell American controversy I mentioned before, and two panelists’ comments on that unfortunate […]

Confused Cornell

October 26, 2005

Some FIRE fans are no doubt aware that our fearless leader, David French, used to be a lecturer at Cornell Law School. If this recent article in the Cornell Daily Sun is accurate, perhaps we should send David back to the lovely town of Ithaca, as the folks there seem utterly confused about what freedom means. Here is how the article begins: Several hundred Cornellians joined eight panelists last night in an event specifically tailored to foster discussion on topics such as freedom of the press and freedom of speech. The event, titled “Censor This: A panel discussion on when, if ever, […]

More on Viewpoint Discrimination

April 6, 2005

A FIRE friend replied to Greg’s post yesterday that had made the point that some of the disparity between liberals and conservatives in American faculties could be due to viewpoint discrimination. Our friend notes that he has been a math professor for many years and has participated in hundreds of hiring decisions and has not once heard a mention of an applicant’s politics. He goes on to say: In fact, any participant in these meetings who attempted to bring up the political views of a candidate would face an immediate, incredulous, and hostile reaction. To do so would, even by […]