School Spotlight

Le Moyne College
Speech Code Rating
Student Handbook: The History of LeMoyne College 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression, Statement
Last updated: October 28, 2013As a comprehensive college, accredited by the State of New York and the Middle States Association, Le Moyne shares the ideals of academic freedom found in American institutions of higher education. Read MoreOffice of Human Resources: Manual on Sexual Harassment and Nonconsensual Sexual Activity 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies, Statement
Last updated: December 15, 2013Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct that relates to the gender or sexual identity of an individual when: ... (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work or academic performance or ... Read MoreStudent Handbook: College Clubs and Organizations 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes, Statement
Last updated: October 28, 2013Organized advocacy of a position violating the College's Catholic tradition is not endorsed or funded by the College. Read MoreStudent Handbook: Misconduct Subject to Disciplinary Action 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies, Statement
Last updated: December 15, 2013Any student engaging in any of the following acts shall be subject to the maximum penalty of suspension or dismissal from the College: ... Stigmatizing or disparaging statements related to race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious preference, age or people with disabilities. Read MoreOffice of Human Resources: Manual on Sexual Harassment and Nonconsensual Sexual Activity 05-06
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies, Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility, Statement
Last updated: December 15, 2013EXAMPLES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT When accompanied by one or more of the three conditions listed above, the following activities constitute sexual harassment. These examples are not intended to be all inclusive. […] – Subtle pressure for sexual activity including inappropriate or offensive sexual advances; &... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Misconduct Subject to Disciplinary Action 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes, Statement
Last updated: October 28, 2013Any student engaging in any of the following acts shall be subject to the maximum penalty of suspension or dismissal from the College: ... Lewd, obscene or indecent expression. Read MoreStudent Handbook: Decorations 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes, Statement
Last updated: October 28, 2013Students may personalize their individual rooms unless it damages the room or offends members of the Le Moyne community. Read MoreStudent Handbook: Abuse of Computer Privileges 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes, Statement
Last updated: October 28, 2013Abuse includes but is not limited to: ... sending abusive, obscene or otherwise harassing electronic communications. Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Use of College Facilities Policy 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes, Statement
Last updated: October 28, 2013No one in his or her speech has the right to use libel, obscenity or to incite riot or advocate the forceful overthrow of the United States government. This policy further excludes speeches that are essentially scandalous or false and speakers without professional or personal credentials. Read MoreStudent Handbook: Harassment and Hate Crimes/Incidents 08-09
Speech Code Rating: Not Yet Rated
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies, Statement
Last updated: December 15, 2013Harassment and hate crimes/incidents include verbal, physical or written abuse directed toward an individual or group on the basis of gender, race, color, creed, national origin, religious preference, sexual orientation, age or disabitility. This includes using remarks, language or illustrations that deprecate or of... Read More
Le Moyne College: Dismissal of Student Newspaper Adviser
May 8, 2006
Le Moyne College dismissed a school newspaper’s adviser for failing to exercise more control over the paper. Professor Alan Fischler had been the paper’s adviser since 1996, when he was chosen by the paper’s staff. When he was dismissed, he was informed by administrators that they wanted a more “hands-on” adviser who would supposedly make… Read more
Le Moyne College: Dismissal of Student for Dissenting Views
February 3, 2005
Graduate student Scott McConnell handed in an assignment in which he described his ideal classroom — environment which involved “strong discipline and hard work” and which included “corporal punishment.” Though he did well on the assignment, he was summarily dismissed two months later by the Education Department chair, despite his “excellent” evaluation for class work…. Read more
Speech Code of the Month: Le Moyne College
June 1, 2007
FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for June 2007: Le Moyne College in New York. Le Moyne College claims to value academic freedom, prominently stating in its Student Handbook that “Le Moyne shares the ideals of academic freedom found in American institutions of higher education.” But Le Moyne maintains a policy that dangerously… Read more
Journalism Association Condemns Press Freedom Violations
August 16, 2006
Yesterday, the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) reported the August 4 decision by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) to censure a community college in New Jersey for violating freedom of the press. Ocean Community College (OCC) has already been censured by the College Media Advisers, Inc. (CMA), a national organization… Read more
Justice for Political Dissenters
June 8, 2006
As FIRE reported this week, NCATE, the largest national accreditor of education schools, has decided to drop the term “social justice” from its “dispositions” criteria for student graduation. FIRE’s objection is not that we as an organization are opposed to social justice—far from it. In fact, if anything, FIRE would define its mission as a… Read more
Le Moyne’s Spin
May 16, 2006
An article in yesterday’s Syracuse Post-Standard addresses FIRE’s recent case at Le Moyne College. Le Moyne was censured by College Media Advisers (CMA), a national association of newspaper advisers, for dismissing Alan Fischler as adviser from the student newspaper, the Dolphin. The Dolphin’s student staff has been on strike to protest Fischler’s dismissal all year…. Read more
More Shocking Offensiveness from a College Newspaper
May 9, 2006
With the ongoing censure of and strike at Le Moyne College that FIRE reported on yesterday, FIRE was reminded that there are many reasons that college administrators have decided that a free press is simply not something with which they should have to contend. The Missouri State cartoon we reprinted on the blog yesterday is… Read more
Hide Your Children: FIRE’s Granddaddy of Offensive Cartoons!
May 8, 2006
Long before the current global cartoon controversy, FIRE was involved with a case at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) involving another divisive editorial cartoon. It prompted outrage from students, caused the university to intervene, and resulted in a faculty press advisor losing her job. What, pray tell, did this horrible cartoon convey? Behold! (The faint… Read more
Le Moyne College Censured for Dismissing Newspaper’s Adviser
May 8, 2006
SYRACUSE, N.Y. , May 8, 2006—Exposing a disturbing trend in campus censorship, Le Moyne College has dismissed its college newspaper’s adviser for not exercising more control over the student paper. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) joins the national organization of student newspaper advisers, College Media Advisers (CMA), in condemning Le Moyne’s actions…. Read more
DePaul: The Nightmare That Keeps on Recurring
April 3, 2006
Today, the Collegiate Network announced that DePaul University won second “prize” in its Campus Outrage Awards, commonly known as the Pollys. Here’s how the CN put it: DePaul University has essentially declared war on free speech on campus. First, the university suspended—without a hearing—a veteran adjunct professor for daring to debate students handing out pro-Palestinian… Read more
FIRE Cases in the ‘Washington Post’
February 6, 2006
Sunday’s Washington Post featured an outstanding article by Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute on the disturbing trend toward “dispositions” evaluations in colleges of education. After discussing FIRE cases involving ideological orthodoxy at Washington State University, Le Moyne College, and Brooklyn College, Hess aptly points out, “The cultivation of right-thinking cadres has no place… Read more
Giving Credit Where Credit’s Due
January 23, 2006
As we’ve pointed out repeatedly here on The Torch, erstwhile Le Moyne College student Scott McConnell has been restored to his rights, and Le Moyne certainly doesn’t deserve any credit for that. Far from it: Le Moyne has done everything in its power to keep McConnell out. Even now, it is appealing Wednesday’s court decision…. Read more
Le Moyne Has No Shame
January 20, 2006
According to the Associated Press, Le Moyne College is appealing the court decision reported in yesterday’s FIRE press release: LeMoyne College will appeal a court decision ordering the school to accept a student into its graduate teaching program who was rejected because he wrote a paper advocating corporal punishment, administrators said Thursday. In the meantime,… Read more
Court Strikes Down Unjust Expulsion
January 20, 2006
Yesterday’s press release announces an important legal victory for Scott McConnell, the education student whom Le Moyne College ejected for endorsing corporal punishment in an essay for an education class. Two months after receiving an “A-” for the paper, McConnell was dismissed from Le Moyne’s education program because administrators said there was a “mismatch” between… Read more
Court Rebukes Le Moyne College for Censorship
January 19, 2006
SYRACUSE, N.Y., January 19, 2006—A New York appeals court has determined that Le Moyne College wrongly removed graduate student Scott McConnell from its education program for endorsing corporal punishment in class. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) first brought McConnell’s case to public attention last year. “This is a great day for all… Read more
FIRE’s Work Lauded in Newspapers Nationwide
December 12, 2005
It’s been a good couple of days for Justice Brandeis’ maxim that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Thanks to articles in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, news of FIRE’s efforts to disinfect the swamps of repression currently passing for American universities is reaching an ever-increasing number of… Read more
New York Private College Rules: Not Worth the Paper They’re Written On
October 4, 2005
Bad news from the state of New York, where a judge on September 23 declined to grant a preliminary injunction that would make Le Moyne College, a Jesuit institution in Syracuse, re-enroll an education master’s student it expelled on the basis of personal beliefs. FIRE took up McConnell’s cause last spring when we discovered that… Read more
Nontraditional Students
August 18, 2005
One of the more interesting aspects of our case submissions is that a disproportionately high number come from “nontraditional” students—those students who are older, married, or often have substantial work experience. Many of our more sensational and egregious cases—including the recent ban on showing The Passion of the Christ at a college in Florida, Scott… Read more
Teaching Student Expelled
May 11, 2005
The New York Sun says a grad student was deemed unfit to teach and kicked out of his program after he expressed skepticism about multicultural education and support for corporal punishment in the classroom. With the backing of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Scott McConnell is now suing Le Moyne College of Syracuse,… Read more
False Promises Of Academic Freedom
May 5, 2005
If you want to get a real glimpse of the thought-tyranny of the academic Left, you should look at the case of Scott McConnell, who was recently expelled from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., because his personal beliefs didn’t fit within the school’s indoctrination grid. The Left, through an extraordinary process of self-deception, routinely… Read more
Student Dismissed for Personal Beliefs Files Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit Against Le Moyne College
May 5, 2005
SYRACUSE, N.Y., May 5, 2005—Today, former graduate student Scott McConnell filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, because it expelled him from its education master’s program based on his personal beliefs. In January 2005, administrators summarily dismissed McConnell because he had expressed views that opposed “multicultural education” and had stated… Read more
How to ‘Educate’ an Educator
March 22, 2005
At Le Moyne College’s school of education, students (future educators) are ironically “educated” that they should shut up or get shut out. Le Moyne’s administrators and faculty might find it helpful to get pointers about what they should have done instead of dismissing Scott McConnell out of the blue for a paper expressing some personal… Read more
Le Moyne’s Follies
March 22, 2005
Yesterday, NPR ran a report on Scott McConnell’s case at Le Moyne College. The report was extremely well-done and balanced. McConnell and a Le Moyne representative spoke to NPR. Le Moyne’s remarks were nothing short of ridiculous. First, the college hinted that there were other factors involved in Scott’s dismissal, but it could not discuss… Read more
College in Flap over Corporal Punishment Essay
March 21, 2005
A dispute has escalated at a small college in New York state and a student who was barred from the school’s teacher training program because he wrote a paper in support of corporal punishment. Le Moyne College says the controversy is not about academic freedom, but about who is qualified to be a teacher. Listen… Read more
To paddle or not to paddle? It’s still not clear in US schools.
March 17, 2005
When it comes to spanking, there’s no such thing as a consensus in America’s schools. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have outlawed corporal punishment in public schools, all in the past 40 years. But as the number of students feeling the sting of the paddle declines, some parents and educators are digging in… Read more
‘Favor the Rod, Get the Ax’: FIRE in ‘The New York Times’
March 10, 2005
Remember Scott McConnell, the master of education student who, without any warning, got booted out of Le Moyne College for his beliefs? You can review his story in The New York Times today. When reading the Times report, keep in mind that McConnell had already completed practicum work last fall as a requirement for Le… Read more
College Expels Student Who Advocated Corporal Punishment
March 10, 2005
Read the article at The New York Times website.
FIRE Has Never Been ‘Sheepish’ on the Danger of Confusing Free Speech with Indoctrination
March 2, 2005
I wanted to add to David’s post about the article from The Nation. The author wrote: New, well-funded organizations like the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) specifically urge universities to monitor and divest themselves of those engaged in “rank political indoctrination”—which even they rather sheepishly acknowledge is an awfully thin line away from… Read more
Le Moyne Responds
February 22, 2005
In response to our recent release describing the outrageous violation of academic freedom at Le Moyne College, dozens of FIRE friends and supporters have written the college to urge it to readmit Scott McConnell. One of FIRE’s great friends, Dr. David Ross, received a response from Joe Della Posta, Le Moyne’s director of communications. Here… Read more
More on ‘Soft’ Violations of Conscience
February 21, 2005
Thank you David for the recent post, and I would like to assure him I am not much for skewering (except the barbeque kind). However, I do disagree, in part, with a recent post in which David discussed his thoughts on violations of the right to conscience. I fully agree that “mandatory diversity training, ‘sensitivity… Read more
Le Moyne College Dismisses a Student—and Free Speech
February 15, 2005
Perhaps it is just that FIRE is becoming better known and we are receiving more cases, but it seems to me that the climate for free speech is actually getting worse on campus. In the last 12 months I have seen many of the worst cases of my career. Take, for example, today’s press release:… Read more
Le Moyne College Dismisses Student for Personal Beliefs
February 15, 2005
SYRACUSE, N.Y., February 15, 2005—Administrators at New York’s Le Moyne College, which claims to protect academic freedom, have summarily dismissed an education student for writing a paper advocating strict discipline for students. The chair of Le Moyne’s education department expelled master’s student Scott McConnell because of a “mismatch” between his personal beliefs and the goals… Read more
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