University of California at Berkeley: Police Officer Charges Student with ‘Unauthorized Conduct’

October 22, 2010

University of California at Berkeley: Ban on Word “California” in Organization Names

March 19, 2010

California: Unconstitutional Discriminatory Harassment Policies

August 1, 2009

University of California at Berkeley: Prohibitive Security Fee Charged for Controversial Speaker

February 12, 2009

Open discussion of Israeli-Palestinian issues can now resume unburdened at the University of California at Berkeley, which has slashed a “security fee” that would have kept a controversial speaker off campus. At Berkeley, members of the Objectivist Club of Berkeley (OCB) turned to FIRE when faced with a $3,000 security fee to host a speech by Elan Journo entitled “America’s Stake in the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” OCB President Dave Zornek was told by the UC Berkeley Police Department that uniformed officers would be required for the event because of the subject matter of Journo’s presentation and previous tension between Israeli and […]

University of California at Berkeley: Newspaper Theft

March 8, 2002

The city of Berkeley has passed a law making it explicitly illegal to steal newspapers. This decision came after Berkeley’s mayor was fined for throwing out 1,000 copies of a student newspaper that endorsed his opponent. FIRE has extensively publicized the issue of newspaper thefts on college campuses, one of which occurred on the Berkeley campus when vandals broke into the office of the College Republicans and stole 3000 copies of a student publication, The California Patriot. Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl denounced the theft as "unconscionable," pledging both to conduct a full investigation and to bring criminal and campus charges […]

Respect and Civility in the Campus Community

Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: March 2, 2017

[T]he administration of this University publicly declares its expectation that all members of the campus community will work to develop and maintain a high degree of respect and civility for the wealth of diversity in which we are all fortunate to live and work together.

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University of California Campus Climate

Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: March 2, 2017

If you experience or observe behavior that is inconsistent with our Principles of Community, please report it. You may report in a variety of ways: *Report anonymously or by name, via this Campus Climate page, by selecting the University of California campus where the incident occurred from the list to the right and clicking “Continue”. * Report anonymously to an appropriate campus office, based on the nature of the incident. Please refer to the website for the campus where the incident occurred. * Report anonymously via your campus’ Bias Reporting page, by selecting your campus from the Local Bias Reporting menu above. If your campus does not appear on this list, there is no local reporting form available. Please use this form, instead. * File a report with your Campus Police Department, via the Campus Police menu above.

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Hate Speech: Hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display that may incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, gender, gender identity, ethnicity ….

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Expressions of Bias: A general communication not directed toward a particular individual, which disparages a group of people on the basis of some characteristic ….

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Berkeley Campus Regulations Implementing University Policies: Areas for Public Expression

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: February 24, 2016

On University grounds open to the public generally, all persons may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech and assembly. Such activities must not, however, interfere with the right of the University to conduct its affairs in an orderly manner and to maintain its property, nor may they interfere with the University’s obligation to protect the rights of all to teach, study, and freely exchange ideas.

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The Sproul Plaza and Lower Sproul Plaza have traditionally been designated as areas for public expression. These areas are open to the public generally between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 midnight. Between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m., these areas are generally closed to all activities except coming and going to a University building or crossing the campus. During open hours, Sproul Plaza and Lower Sproul Plaza may be used without reservation for discussion or public expression which does not require or involve sound amplification equipment. Space in both areas may be reserved through the Center for Student Leadership for use by recognized campus organizations or non-University groups in accordance with facility use regulations and established office procedures. However, use of these areas for discussion or public expression may be limited when such use interferes with the orderly conduct of University business or authorized events.

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Bear Necessities Guide: Residential Conduct Code

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: March 2, 2017

The following information outlines actions that are prohibited:
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Verbal Harassment & Abuse
A. Verbal or written statements that intimidate, harass, coerce or threaten others or their property are prohibited. This includes images, all modes of electronic communication, and social media.

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Code of Student Conduct: Sexual, Racial and Other Forms of Harassment (Interim)

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: March 2, 2017

Harassment is defined as conduct that is so severe and/or pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so substantially impairs a person’s access to University programs or activities, that the person is effectively denied equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities on the basis of his or her race, color, national or ethnic origin, alienage, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, veteran status, physical or mental disability, or perceived membership in any of these classifications.

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When employed by the University of California, and acting within the course and scope of that employment, students are subject to the University of California Policy on Sexual Harassment. Otherwise, Section 102.09, above, is the applicable standard for harassment by students.

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University of California Policy: Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: March 2, 2017

Sexual Harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome requests for sexual favors, and other unwelcome verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: … Hostile Environment: such conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it unreasonably denies, adversely limits, or interferes with a person’s participation in or benefit from the education, employment or other programs and services of the University and creates an environment that a reasonable person would find to be intimidating or offensive.

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Pavlich: Bogus campus safety concerns

April 25, 2017

by Katie Pavlich at The Hill Another semester, another well-known conservative has been kept off campus because university administrators can’t be bothered with asking liberal students to behave themselves… Read more here.

Free Speech, Safety and the Constitution

April 21, 2017

By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf at Inside Higher Ed Citing safety concerns, two universities this week attempted to block planned appearances at their campuses — one from white nationalist Richard Spencer at Auburn University, the other from conservative political commentator Ann Coulter at University of California, Berkeley… Read more here.

Berkeley once stood for free speech. Now it rolls over

April 21, 2017

By Megan McArdle at Bloomberg In the 1960s, students at Berkeley helped change the world by igniting the Free Speech Movement, a seminal moment in the history of 20th-century civil liberties. Fifty years later, Berkeley leftists seem to have decided that free speech was a mistake — and the administration seems intent on helping them roll it back… Read more here.

After Milo riot, chancellor creates task force to protect invited speakers from heckler’s veto

March 2, 2017

by Greg Piper at The College Fix Ralph Hexter is playing catch-up on one of the greatest challenges facing universities in this “vitriolic and polarized” time in national politics… Read more here.

EXCLUSIVE: UC Berkeley and city officials had warning anti-Milo protests could spiral out of control

February 28, 2017

By Lukas Mikelionis at Heat Street In the wake of rioting at UC Berkeley earlier this month that resulted in multiple assaults and caused up to $100,000 in property damage, the college said the events took them by surprise. They asserted that the violent protests—sparked by an appearance by conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos—weren’t something that they ever could have anticipated… Read more here.

Teresa Mull: Colleges Are Creating a Generation of Bigots

February 9, 2017

By Theresa Mull at Breitbart Last week, people at the University of California-Berkeley (they weren’t solely students) violently protested a speech scheduled to be delivered by conservative journalist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos. The event was canceled after the group caused $100,000 worth of damage and a Milo fan was pepper-sprayed in the face… Read more here.

FBI Looking into Milo Riots at UC-Berkeley, Victim Offers ‘Bounty’ to ID Attacker, Report Says

February 9, 2017

By Staff at The College Fix There’s a lot of disagreement over whether the University of California-Berkeley did enough to stop left-wing violence before canceling the Milo Yiannopoulos appearance on campus last week, especially the adequacy of the law-enforcement response… Read more here.    

Berkeley Probes ‘Hands-Off’ Police Response to Protest Chaos

February 7, 2017

by Paul Elias at The Associated Press University of California, Berkeley police took a hands-off approach to protesters on the campus last week when violent rioters caused chaos when they overtook a largely peaceful protest against a right-wing speaker. But that response by campus officers is being questioned amid widening political polarization and increasingly hostile demonstrators… Read more here.

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Condemns UC Berkeley Riots

February 3, 2017

Jack Hadfield at Breitbart “FIRE condemns both violence and attempts to silence protected expression in the strongest terms,” the statement reads… Read more here.

‘Daddy’ Trump’s Empty Threat to Defund Berkeley Over Milo

February 3, 2017

By Lizzie Crocker at The Daily Beast Early Wednesday morning, President Trump threatened to withdraw federal funding from UC Berkeley after the university cancelled a speech by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos amid violent protests on campus… Read more here.

Could Trump Cut Berkeley’s Funds?

February 3, 2017

by Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed The news out of the University of California, Berkeley, Wednesday night stunned many. A lecture by Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos — known for his inflammatory insults — was called off amid violent protests. While a large group of students and others engaged in nonviolent protest, an organized group of about 100-150 people from off campus, many of them masked, set fires, threw fireworks and rocks, and scuffled with police. The university had defended the right of Yiannopoulos to appear, but said safety issues forced it to call off the event… Read more here.

Could Trump cut Berkeley’s funds?

February 3, 2017

By Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed   The news out of the University of California, Berkeley, Wednesday night stunned many. A lecture by Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos — known for his inflammatory insults — was called off amid violent protests. While a large group of students and others engaged in nonviolent protest, an organized group of about 100-150 people from off campus, many of them masked, set fires, threw fireworks and rocks, and scuffled with police. The university had defended the right of Yiannopoulos to appear, but said safety issues forced it to call off the event… Read more […]

UC Berkeley Professor, Free Speech Leader Slams Trump’s Funding Threat as ‘Ridiculous, Crazy’

February 2, 2017

By Meriah Doty at The Wrap University of California at Berkeley professor and Free Speech Movement leader John Searle blasted President Trump’s tweeted threat to cut federal funding for the university over Wednesday’s violent protest that scuttled a scheduled speech on campus by Breitbart editor and conservative firebrand Milo Yiannapoulos. Read more here.

Violence and censorship rule at UC Berkeley

February 2, 2017

By Ashe Schow at Watchdog In an embarrassing display of vulgarity and violence, rioters at the University of California, Berkeley lit fires and destroyed property to shut down a campus event featuring a speaker whose speech they oppose… Read more here.

Trump Threatens U.C. Berkeley Funding Over Violent Protests

February 2, 2017

By Margaret Talev and John Lauerman at Bloomberg President Donald Trump threatened to take away federal funding from the University of California at Berkeley the morning after violent, fiery protests prompted the cancellation of a speech by a provocative Breitbart News editor… Read more here.

Berkeley Protest, Trump Tweet Highlight Free-Speech Tightrope

February 2, 2017

by Lauren Camera at US News The University of California-Berkeley’s cancellation of a speech Wednesday by right-wing editor Milo Yiannopoulos after a campus protest turned violent again calls into question academia’s ability to protect free speech in a highly politicized environment. Read more here.  

Violent UC-Berkeley Protest Prompts Trump Warning to University

February 2, 2017

by Debra J. Saunders in Las Vegas Review Journal After violent demonstrations at the University of California-Berkeley prompted the cancellation of a speech by a right-wing commentator, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to threaten to withhold federal funding from institutions that fail to guarantee free-speech rights… Read more here.

Dear Mr. President: This Is How Federal Funding to Universities Works

February 2, 2017

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel at The Washington Post After the University of California at Berkeley cancelled an appearance by controversial writer Milo Yiannopoulos, President Trump threatened Thursday to pull federal funding to the public university for not permitting free speech… Read more here.

UC Berkeley Administration Condemns Anti-MILO Riots

February 2, 2017

By Lucas Nolan at Breitbart.   UC Berkeley’s administration and the Berkeley College Republicans group have condemned the riots that took place last night outside the cancelled event of Breitbart Senior editor MILO… Read more here.

‘Not a bad way of showing them that violence will not win’: Milo Yiannopoulis boasts about his rising book sales after violent protests cancel his talk at Berkeley

February 2, 2017

By Hannah Perry at Daily Mail Sales are soaring for the book ‘Dangerous’ by incendiary right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulis… Read more here.

Trump hints at cutting federal funds to UC Berkeley after violent protests over Milo Yiannopoulos

February 2, 2017

By Matt Hamilton, et al. at Los Angeles Times A speech by conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled at UC Berkeley on Wednesday amid violent protests that prompted President Trump to suggest cutting federal funding to the university… Read more here.

Breitbart Speaker at Berkeley Stirs Debate Over Free Speech

January 31, 2017

by Jocelyn Gecker at The Associated Press Fans and foes agree that Milo Yiannopoulos specializes in controversy. The polarizing editor from Breitbart News is a self-proclaimed internet troll who has been criticized as racist, misogynist and white supremacist… Read more here.

‘Disinvitations’ for College Speakers are on the Rise — Here’s a List of People Turned Away this Year

July 29, 2016

By Abby Jackson at Business Insider Student activism has long been ingrained in the culture of college campuses, but protests about perceived discrimination over the past year have been especially tense… Read more here.

The Battle Against ‘Hate Speech’ on College Campuses Gives Rise to a Generation that Hates Speech

May 26, 2016

By Nina Burleigh at Newsweek During his 18 years as president of Lebanon Valley College during the middle of the past century, Clyde Lynch led the tiny Pennsylvania liberal arts institution through the tribulations of the Great Depression and World War II, then raised $550,000 to build a new gymnasium before he died in 1950. In gratitude, college trustees named that new building after him… Read more here.

The Sissification of Academia

April 6, 2016

By Bob Barr at Townhall For decades, liberals have forewarned the destruction by conservatives of their Ivory Towers of academia. They whine that conservatives are out to “starve” educational institutions by cutting their bloated, taxpayer-funded budgets; they blame conservative opposition to their precious Common Core scheme as “paranoia,” and they defend teacher unions to the death… Read more here.

PC Zealots Seek and Destroy Lars Ulrich at UC-Berkeley

March 25, 2016

By Robby Soave at The Daily Beast  It was a sad day for the First Amendment at the University of California, Berkeley: militant far-left students stormed the stage during a recent forum featuring Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, fully intent on halting the event. Their actions—which included an alleged assault of one of the other speakers—are not merely a betrayal, but a repudiation of the values of the university that birthed the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s. … Read more here.

Left-wing Protesters Brought Mob Violence to UC-Berkeley Event Featuring Metallica Drummer

March 17, 2016

By Robby Soave at Reason.com Liberal students attempted to shut down an event at the University of California-Berkeley earlier this month by resorting to one of the worst kinds of censorship tactics: mob violence. Read more here.

UC-Berkeley Protester Lunges at LGBT Activist CEO Because He’s Rich

March 17, 2016

By Greg Piper at The College Fix We were only half-joking yesterday when we mused about which campus radicals at the University of California-Berkeley would lead the disinvitation charge against the famous and wealthy Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg as spring commencement speaker. Read more here.

From Megaphones to Muzzles

November 25, 2015

By Susan Mulligan at US News It was students in California who birthed a new era on college campuses, one in which collegians would demand to be included, to be treated like adults and to have a very public say on such hotbed issues as civil rights and the Vietnam War. The Berkeley Free Speech Movement of 1964 became a defining moment in a nationwide trend, with students insisting they would not be silenced on some of the most controversial issues of the day. A half-century later, campuses are again the site of unrest and tension, but it’s not about […]

UC Berkeley Housing Co-op Establishes Safe Space Guidelines

November 23, 2015

By Pardes Seleh at Campus Reform The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) a large student housing cooperative at the University of California Berkeley, serving over 1300 students in 17 houses and 3 apartment buildings, recently established guidelines in order to create a “Safe Space” to protect “Person of Color” and “Gender Queer” student residents from potential discrimination. The BSC “Safe Space” guidelines give a comprehensive list of 4 rules to prevent uncomfortable discussions and avoid “risks” of offending other students. These principles include asking students to refrain from “project[ing]” opinions without using the pronoun “I” and to “maintain gender neutrality in […]

The University of California’s Insane Speech Police

June 22, 2015

By Robby Soave at The Daily Beast Administrators of the UC system think referring to America as a ‘melting pot’ is somehow offensive—and want teachers to stop using that and many other innocuous phrases. Fifty years after the birth of the free speech movement at the University of California, Berkeley, officials across the UC system are encouraging faculty and students to purge mundane, potentially offensive words and phrases from their vocabularies. Administrators want members of campus to avoid the use of racist and sexist statements, though their notions about what kinds of statements qualify are completely bonkers. “America is a […]

Berkeley Vs. Bill: FSM Turns In Its Grave

November 4, 2014

By Sean Collins at sp!ked Students at the University of California, Berkeley, are demanding that the administration ‘disinvite’ comedian Bill Maher who had been asked to be the commencement ceremony speaker in December. An online petition from the Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian Coalition (MEMSA) declares that Maher ‘has made statements that are blatantly bigoted and racist’, in particular about Islam. Examples of ‘hate speech’ cited by the petitioners include Maher’s recent statement that ‘Islam is the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will fucking kill you if you say the wrong thing’. In response to the […]

Cair Spokesman On Maher: ‘If They Invited The Grand Dragon’

October 28, 2014

By Ian Hanchett at Breitbart News   Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and Ibrahim Hooper, the Communications Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations squared off over the protest to Bill Maher’s planned commencement address at the University of California-Berkeley on Tuesday’s “NewsNation” on MSNBC. “We’ve been following this what we call disinvitation season for years, and that’s the attempt by students and faculty members to get speakers they dislike … disinvited from campus because of their views” Lukianoff stated.   Hooper argued, “The key issue here is honoring and endorsing views that […]

Civility and Free Speech

October 14, 2014

By Henry Reichman at Inside Higher Ed In his “Civility Manifesto” published here last week Cary Nelson cites my blog post, “Is Incivility the New Communism?,” as “particularly hyperbolic” in its critique of efforts by some university administrators to demand that free speech be limited to expression they deem “civil.” In his own expression Nelson himself has been known to employ hyperbole — as well as sarcasm — even to the point that some might call uncivil, so it’s surprising he does not recognize that my exaggeration was intentional. Of course, we are not living through a new Red Scare […]

Thin Skin Threatens Free Speech

September 13, 2014

By Jesse Saffron at National Review Online UC-Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks recently attracted criticism after he sent students and faculty an e-mail attempting to honor the 50th anniversary of the university’s Free Speech Movement. Critics contend that his message, titled “Civility and Free Speech,” brimmed with equivocation and political correctness and amounted to a lukewarm defense of free speech. Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Dirks’s e-mail is “another example of the ambivalence and even outright hostility toward free expression found too often on today’s campuses.” George Leef, in a recent See Thru Edu piece, argues that one of the […]

Tepid Defense of Free Speech at Berkeley

September 9, 2014

By George Leef at National Review Online Exemplifying the tendency among many academics to take a cautious, wishy-washy stance on free speech, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks of UC-Berkeley recently sent a communication to the entire university community entitled “Civility and Free Speech.” He stated that free expression of ideas is a “signature issue” for the school — but then backtracked, writing that everyone must bear in mind that free speech can lead to “division and divisiveness that undermine a community’s foundation.” Oh, oh. His felt need for a happy Kumbaya community clearly trumps his commitment to robust debate. Greg Lukianoff of FIRE […]

Freedom of Speech or Freedom From Speech: 50 Years After the Berkeley Free Speech Movement

September 9, 2014

By Greg Lukianoff at The Huffington Post Late Friday afternoon, at a time usually reserved for announcements campus administrators would prefer to bury, UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sent out a message to all faculty, staff, and students titled “Civility and Free Speech.” While the message was intended to honor the 50-year anniversary of the start of the famed Berkeley Free Speech Movement, it struck an ambivalent and qualified tone. As I explain in today’s Wall Street Journal: Mr. Dirks noted that the “free expression of ideas” is a “signature issue for our campus,” but he cautioned that free speech can cause “division […]

Free Speech, ‘Civility,’ and How Universities are Getting Them Mixed Up

September 9, 2014

By Michael Hiltzik at Los Angeles Times When someone in power praises the principle of free speech, it’s wise to be on the lookout for weasel words. The phrase “I favor constructive criticism,” is weaseling. So is, “You can express your views as long as they’re respectful.” In those examples, “constructive” and “respectful” are modifiers concealing that the speaker really doesn’t favor free speech at all. The targets of free speech never think it’s constructive or respectful. Quite the contrary. So now here’s Nicholas Dirks, chancellor of UC Berkeley, on Friday, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, […]

Berkeley Chancellor: Free Speech Is Great and All, But…

September 9, 2014

By Robby Soave at Reason Online It’s the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley, and Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sure has a funny way of showing his love for the First Amendment. He recently sent a campus-wide email filled with Orwellian doublespeak about how free speech can “undermine a community’s foundation” if it leads to “division.” Just try to make sense of his message: As we honor this turning point in our history, it is important that we recognize the broader social context required in order for free speech to thrive. For free speech […]

Free Speech and Civility at Universities

September 9, 2014

By Eugene Volokh at The Washington Post Many have criticized a message sent around last week by University of California at Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, which spoke about free speech and civility. (See, for instance, the items by Ken White (Popehat)and Greg Lukianoff (FIRE).) I think much of the criticism has merit, and, like many institutional exhortations, the message was mushy enough that it could be used in many different ways, some bad. But one thing at the heart of the e-mail (which I quote at the end of the post) strikes me as quite right: civility is extremely important to the work of […]

The Problem with Civility

September 9, 2014

By Colleen Flaherty at Inside Higher Ed Will 2014 be the year of civility in faculty conduct? It seems to be shaping up that way, with administrators and even courts recently weighing in on the concept – to the dismay of many faculty members who see expectations of civility as incompatible with academic freedom. It’s not that critics want everyone to be rude, but they say that civility can be used as grounds to squelch unpopular ideas that deserve a home in academe. Most recently, this week, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks of the University of California at Berkeley sent an email to faculty […]

Free Speech at Berkeley—So Long as It’s ‘Civil’

September 8, 2014

By Greg Lukianoff at The Wall Street Journal This fall the University of California at Berkeley is marking the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement that famously roiled the campus during the 1964-65 school year. What a difference a half-century makes. On Friday Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sent a message to Berkeley faculty, staff and students titled “Civility and Free Speech” that was at best a lukewarm defense of the First Amendment rights that those long-ago students passionately sought with protests and sit-ins because political speech was restricted on campus. Mr. Dirks noted that the “free expression of ideas” is […]

UC Berkeley’s Handling of Rape Complaints Draws Fire

July 18, 2014

By Mia Shaw at Capitol Weekly UC Berkeley – under federal investigation for its handling of sexual assault complaints and the target of a critical state audit – has a flawed system for dealing with rape allegations and an internal procedure that critics say shields assailants from criminal charges. The school is one of 55 campuses across the country being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for allegedly mishandling cases of sexual assault. During the 2013-14 academic year, more than five dozen sexual assault complaints were filed at UC Berkeley. In March, UC President Janet Napolitano announced changes in the […]

U of Central Florida punishes student, then rips off his idea

August 16, 2012

There’s a classic joke that the definition of chutzpah is killing your parents and then begging the court for mercy because you’re an orphan. The University of Central Florida (UCF) has now updated that joke for the Internet age: after punishing a student for inventing a better way to search for available classes, it copied his ideas and rolled out its own solution. The victim of this unfunny joke is UCF senior Tim Arnold, who developed a system to find classes with available seats at UCF and send students a text message when those seats were available. The (now inactive) […]

University Of California Campus Police Have History Of Excessive Force Against Protesters

December 9, 2011

When students at the University of California, Berkeley, attempted to set up an Occupy Wall Street encampment, campus police answered on Nov. 9 with their batons. But witnesses captured the beating of students on video, and the violent response to a peaceful protest sparked a national outcry. For nearly an hour last week, UC Berkeley faculty grilled Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and administration officials about the incident. Executive Vice-Chancellor George Breslauer admitted that, in retrospect, “tactically, it would’ve been better to wait, to wait perhaps until the middle of the night to minimize the number of encounters between police and protesters and observers.” […]

Bake sale free speech, or bigotry?

September 29, 2011

In “The Graduate,” Benjamin Braddock travels to Berkeley in pursuit of the scrumptious Elaine Robinson, after finding her to be even more desirable than her mother — and here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson. Elaine asks him what he’s doing there and he says he has attended some classes at the University of California at Berkeley, America’s foremost citadel of liberalism, even though he’s not registered. “They don’t seem to mind,” he tells her. When I was talking to my brother just the other day, I mentioned UC Berkeley and he said he had sat in on some classes there, although […]

UC Berkeley Chancellor Blames Arizona Shooting on ‘Hateful Speech’

January 11, 2011

by Adam Kissel The Huffington Post   Yesterday morning, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau e-mailed the campus community with regard to the horrendous mass shooting in Arizona that killed a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl, and several others while gravely injuring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the apparent target of the attack. Like many others in the news media and on blogs and Twitter, Birgeneau chose to put the blame for the shooting on the “climate” of speech in Arizona, while lamenting what he sees as similar problems at his own institution. The key sentence: “A climate in which demonization of […]

Why no one should be silenced on campus

April 9, 2009

WHEN CONSERVATIVE columnist Don Feder spoke at UMass-Amherst last month, his speech was cut short by a large group of students whose noisy and disruptive antics drove Feder off the lectern midway through his speech. As one UMass student wrote after the event, “I am embarrassed of the way my fellow classmates have chosen to express their discontent.” She should be – but she should also know that she is not the only one who is due for some embarrassment. America’s campuses are seeing a growing movement by students to shut off debate by organized groups and silence speakers with […]

Campus security bills for speakers challenged

March 29, 2009

When a UC Berkeley student group invited a speaker known for his hard-line pro-Israel stance, the university feared clashes with Palestinian supporters and billed the group more than $3,000 for police protection. It was a common response by campus officials in a security-conscious era. When a speaker’s controversial topic or history suggests the possibility of a violent reaction, the thinking goes, the sponsoring group should pay for protecting the speaker, the audience and public property. That sounds logical, but it’s also unconstitutional, says the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a conservative-leaning group that defends free speech on campus. Citing […]

Why There Is a Culture War

June 30, 2005

By John Fonte at Policy Review Gramsci and Tocqueville in America As intellectual historians have often had occasion to observe, there are times in a nation’s history when certain ideas are just “in the air.” Admittedly, this point seems to fizzle when applied to our particular historical moment. On the surface of American politics, as many have had cause to mention, it appears that the main trends predicted over a decade ago in Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History?” have come to pass — that ideological (if not partisan) strife has been muted; that there is a general consensus about the most […]

Educating the University

June 1, 2005

By Peter Berkowitz at Policy Review (Hoover Institution) Donald Alexander Downs. Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus. Cambridge University Press. 318 pages. $28.99 Our universities are ailing. Many, including most of our elite universities, have abandoned the notion that a liberal arts education is constituted by a solid core, that is, a basic knowledge of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences that all educated people should possess. Furthermore, for all their earnest words about the beauty and necessity of multicultural education, university administrators and faculty preside over a curriculum that routinely permits students to graduate without acquiring reading, […]

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 […]

OSPIRG: down but not out

April 8, 2005

In the middle of an unusually warm February earlier this year, the talk all over campus was OSPIRG. For the past three years, the activist group has wrangled with student government over how much money would be allocated to their efforts at PSU. This year, after two hours of deliberation OSPIRG got its answer. No large increase, no large payout. Student government again was not swayed by the group’s impassioned pleas for funding and sent them packing with thousands less than they had asked for. Students came pouring out of the meeting crying, aghast that their efforts had failed for […]

Campus Hourglass

March 17, 2004

By Candace de Russy and KC Johnson at National Review Who will guard the guardians? This common saying applies to American higher education, where professors and administrators are normally exempt from the scrutiny given to other public institutions. A tradition of academic freedom, flowing from the belief that the faculty’s training in their academic disciplines equips them to decide what to teach, has protected the autonomy of American colleges and universities and helped make them the envy of the world. But the principle of academic freedom can be subject to abuse, particularly in personnel and curricular matters, where personal and ideological agendas can […]

Government Urges Colleges to Heed First Amendment

August 15, 2003

A Class on Palestinian Literature at Berkeley Finds Itself in the Center of a Debate

May 16, 2002

Cramped Speech at UC Berkeley; Teacher Warns ‘Conservative Thinkers’

May 10, 2002

‘Conservative Thinkers’ Discouraged from Palestinian Class

May 10, 2002

News in Brief: Investigation Into Patriot Theft Continues

February 28, 2002

Editorial: Thieves of Liberty

February 28, 2002

Copies of California Patriot Stolen; Publication Staff Allegedly Harassed

February 27, 2002

Speech Codes on Campus

October 31, 2001

Don’t Tread on Free-speakers

September 5, 2001

Agitation Ad

April 10, 2001

Campuses Struggle to Define Free Speech

March 27, 2001

Thought Reform 101

March 1, 2000

At Wake Forest University last fall, one of the few events designated as “mandatory” for freshman orientation was attendance at Blue Eyed, a filmed racism awareness workshop in which whites are abused, ridiculed, made to fail, and taught helpless passivity so that they can identify with “a person of color for a day.” In Swarthmore College’s dormitories, in the fall of 1998, first-year students were asked to line up by skin color, from lightest to darkest, and to step forward and talk about how they felt concerning their place in that line. Indeed, at almost all of our campuses, some […]

Using Race to Divide, Not Unite

February 28, 2000

FIRE statement on the cancellation of Ann Coulter’s speech at UC Berkeley

April 26, 2017

Today, Ann Coulter announced that she will no longer attempt to speak at the University of California, Berkeley tomorrow, Thursday, April 27, because of safety concerns. This latest success for those willing to threaten or engage in violence in order to silence a campus speaker establishes a genuinely dangerous precedent. Public colleges and universities have a legal duty to protect First Amendment rights. They also have a responsibility to do their best to protect all those present on campus from threats to their physical safety. But curtailing the rights of a speaker in the name of safety is wrong unless […]

Berkeley sued over Ann Coulter cancellation

April 24, 2017

This morning, the Young America’s Foundation and Berkeley College Republicans filed a lawsuit against officials at the University of California, Berkeley, arising out of administrators’ unilateral decision to “reschedule” a planned Thursday appearance by Ann Coulter, invited to speak at the university by several student organizations. After substantial public backlash, including criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Berkeley professor Robert Reich, the university backtracked and agreed to reschedule Coulter’s appearance for next Monday, May 2 — a date offered by the university apparently without consulting the students or Coulter, who says she’s unavailable. A copy of the complaint is embedded […]

[UPDATED] A message from FIRE’s president: UC Berkeley and the state of free speech on campus

April 20, 2017

Update (4:25 pm, EDT): The New York Times reports that the University of California, Berkeley will allow Ann Coulter to speak on campus May 2, after initially cancelling her planned April 27 appearance. FIRE will continue to investigate the details of this developing story. We at FIRE have watched the situation on campus with growing alarm, particularly at the birthplace of the free speech movement: the University of California, Berkeley. When the riots on Feb. 1 ended a planned speech by former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley, we condemned the violence. However, we tried to be cautious in our […]

UC Berkeley Chancellor Condemns Calls for Violence, Reiterates Support for Free Speech

February 15, 2017

If you have been following our Newsdesk or social media accounts, you’ve probably seen our coverage of the recent protest that turned violent at the University of California, Berkeley. That violence reportedly caused $100,000 in property damage and multiple injuries, leading to the cancellation of Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ scheduled talk. Before the event, we commended UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks for his refusal to bow to pressure to preemptively cancel Yiannopoulos’ talk. After the protest, FIRE firmly maintained that the violent suppression of constitutionally protected speech is an affront to liberty, and wholly incompatible with the ideals of a liberal […]

After the Smoke Clears at Berkeley, Could More Have Been Done?

February 4, 2017

Last week, we praised University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks for professing his respect for the First Amendment rights of his students. Faced with calls to cancel Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ appearance on campus at the invitation of the College Republicans, Chancellor Dirks refused. Instead, he committed the university to treating Yiannopoulos and the College Republicans as it would any other student group bringing a speaker to campus, pledging “to ensure the event goes as planned, and to provide for the safety and security of those who attend, as well as those who will choose to protest Yiannopoulos’s appearance […]

Updated Statement on Violent Protest at University of California, Berkeley

February 2, 2017

Last night, a violent protest at the University of California, Berkeley forced the cancellation of a speech by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. The fires, vandalism, and injuries resulting from the unrest at Berkeley have drawn national media attention and a tweet from President Donald Trump. FIRE condemns both violence and attempts to silence protected expression in the strongest terms. We also urge that decisions affecting long-term policy be made only after all the facts are gathered and with appropriate opportunity for reasoned discussion. Last week, Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks wrote a letter to the university community rightfully refusing demands that […]

Statement on Violent Protest at University of California, Berkeley

February 1, 2017

On Wednesday night, protests at the University of California, Berkeley turned violent in response to a scheduled campus speech by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. As a result, the speech was cancelled and Yiannopoulos was evacuated from campus. The use of mob violence to respond to constitutionally protected expression is an affront to our nation’s liberal traditions. And as so often happens, it has also proven deeply counterproductive, sabotaging its apparent aim. Instead of silencing Yiannopoulos, the violent response ensured that his message was broadcast nationwide. The events at Berkeley should alarm citizens from across the political spectrum who hold dear […]

In Maryland and California, University Leaders Set Example with Commitments to Free Speech

January 27, 2017

Regular readers of FIRE’s website are all too familiar with campus administrators censoring student and faculty speech, particularly when faced with controversial or unpopular viewpoints. For one example of thousands, we issued a press release Wednesday calling on Fordham University to honor its promises of free expression by reversing its misguided denial of recognition to a prospective chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. So it’s a pleasure to end this busy week by paying tribute to two excellent statements from university leaders who rededicated their institutions to the hard work of protecting freedom of expression. University of Maryland At […]

Speech Code Countdown: Most of America’s ‘Best Colleges’ Restrict Speech

October 5, 2016

U.S. News & World Report recently released its annual rankings of the “Best Colleges” for 2017. The rankings are based on a multitude of “indicators of academic excellence” that prospective students use to narrow down their college application lists, including graduation and retention rate, financial resources, the institution’s reputation, and student selectivity. But U.S. News’ ranking system fails aspiring students by overlooking one of the most important factors students should consider when choosing a college or university: whether the institution is committed to free speech. FIRE has revisited these rankings to answer that very question. And over the next few […]

Berkeley Protesters Attack College Republicans, Campus Police Let It Happen

September 13, 2016

In the 1960s, the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) became famous for its Free Speech Movement, during which students fought for the right to express themselves on campus. But today there is worrisome evidence that the university won’t lift a finger when freedom of speech is literally under attack. According to media reports, the Berkeley College Republicans were assaulted by protesters after they displayed a Donald Trump cutout at a tabling event on September 7—and nearby police did nothing to stop it. The protesters allegedly yelled at the College Republicans and demanded the cutout be removed, claiming that it […]

Berkeley Student Protesters Rush Stage at Event Hosted by Metallica Drummer, Allegedly Assault Panelist (VIDEO)

March 16, 2016

Heavy metal band Metallica, who have already covered one song called “Free Speech for the Dumb,” might title their next album “… And Free Speech for All at Berkeley.” The movement to heckle and silence speakers on campus was ratcheted up on March 2 after a group of students stormed the stage at a University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) event hosted by Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. One student allegedly assaulted Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff during the incident: Benioff was on campus to participate in the public forum intended to explore the creative culture of the Bay Area through conversations with […]

‘Slate’: ‘Every College Should Issue a Transparency Report About Government Requests for Student Data’

September 24, 2015

Writing in Slate last week, digital rights activist April Glaser urged colleges and universities to report the private electronic student data they release at the request of certain entities, including internal committees, federal agencies, and law enforcement. The piece called the University of California, Berkeley’s promise of biannual “transparency reports,” detailing categories of what is released and to whom, a step in the right direction. Glaser writes: In the 1960s the CIA had an entire strategy dedicated to infiltrating the students’ rights movement in an effort to counter communism. The days of communist panic may be gone, but in 2012, it […]

University of California Considers Yet Another Proposal to Silence Protected Speech

September 14, 2015

Later this week, the University of California (UC) will consider a new proposal to silence speech protected by the First Amendment. Here we go again. This Thursday, the Committee on Education Policy of the Regents of the University of California will discuss a new “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance” that would require UC students and faculty to “respect the dignity of each person within the UC community.” The policy further states: Intolerance has no place at the University of California. We define intolerance as unwelcome conduct motivated by discrimination against, or hatred toward, other individuals or groups. It may take […]

Bill Maher Delivers Commencement Speech Without Censorship

December 22, 2014

Bill Maher spoke at the University of California, Berkeley’s winter graduation ceremony on Saturday following months of demands that the university disinvite Maher because of his controversial statements about Islam. Thankfully, the UC Berkeley administration steadfastly resisted those demands, even releasing statements explaining why the university’s commitment to freedom of expression required it to allow Maher to speak. According to the San Jose Mercury News, a group of protesters demonstrated outside the venue before the ceremony and later held up signs during Maher’s speech, but they remained silent while he was speaking. Meanwhile, Maher took the opportunity to urge each […]

Protest Dos and Don’ts, Brought to You By Michigan State and UC Berkeley

December 15, 2014

This past weekend, columnist George Will spoke at Michigan State University’s (MSU’s) December commencement ceremony, after university officials rebuffed students’ demands that he be disinvited. Will’s speech was not free from protesters, but thankfully it was free from disruption. The strategy employed by those objecting to Will’s presence stands in stark contrast to that of protesters at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) last week, who brought an event featuring Peter Thiel to a premature end. As the Lansing State Journal explains, Will came under fire this summer for remarks he made about campus sexual assault, and many students […]

Confused Protesters Disrupt Dialogue Between Peter Thiel and UC Berkeley Students

December 11, 2014

Last night, entrepreneur and libertarian Peter Thiel was taking questions from students gathered to hear him speak at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) when scores of protesters broke into the venue and shouted Thiel down, halting the event. The Berkeley Forum, the student organization that hosted the event, later criticized the protesters for depriving Thiel and audience members of the opportunity to “engage in productive discussion.” The incident is yet another deplorable example of the all-too-common “heckler’s veto,” which occurs when people opposed to someone’s viewpoint or expression silence the would-be speaker by creating such a commotion that […]

Chris Rock Explains Why He Doesn’t Want to Perform on College Campuses

December 1, 2014

New York magazine’s Frank Rich interviewed comedian Chris Rock for a piece published yesterday, and Rock took the opportunity to point out another sad result of college students “unlearning liberty”: talented comedians no longer want to perform on campus. In the interview, Rich and Rock discussed how Rock, like many comedians, has been criticized by audience members who were offended by his jokes. When asked what he thought about the recent controversy over Bill Maher’s invitation to speak at the University of California, Berkeley’s December commencement ceremony, Rock said, “Well, I love Bill, but I stopped playing colleges, and the […]

Center for Constitutional Rights and Allies Write to Universities About Problems with Mandating ‘Civility’

November 19, 2014

Colleges and universities too often attempt to censor or chill expression by calling for “civility,” demanding that speakers exercise restraint in a way that is inconsistent with First Amendment principles. Earlier this month, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) joined Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations in sending a letter (PDF) to over 140 universities, urging them against restricting speech based on the notion of “civility” or on misunderstandings about what constitutes “harassment.” CCR wrote in its introduction to the letter about recent controversies involving a […]

Greg in ‘Huffington Post’: 5 Important Points About the Bill Maher–UC Berkeley Controversy

November 4, 2014

The debate over whether the University of California, Berkeley should disinvite Bill Maher as its December commencement speaker is still raging on, even after the UC Berkeley administration publicly reaffirmed its invitation to Maher. As I reported last week, many critics of Maher’s are arguing that statements he has made about Islam, among other topics, render him an unacceptable speaker for the occasion. In response to some arguments commonly made by those who would have Maher disinvited, FIRE President Greg Lukianoff writes in The Huffington Post today about five important points regarding the Bill Maher–UC Berkeley controversy. Many advocates for […]

UC Berkeley Rejects Students’ Demands to Disinvite Bill Maher

October 30, 2014

Torch readers know that FIRE and other free speech advocates have had much to criticize the University of California, Berkeley about lately. Many have pointed out that UC Berkeley’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement rings somewhat hollow in light of its numerous speech codes. And last month, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks caused alarm with an email in which he argued for civility as a necessary limit on free speech. Happily, following widespread criticism, Dirks soon sent an email clarifying that freedom of expression should not be hindered in this manner. In a positive development, it looks […]

Free Speech Advocates Continue to Call Out UC Berkeley for Shallow Celebration

October 16, 2014

As the University of California, Berkeley celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) this fall, many remain critical of the university’s failure to protect freedom of speech on campus today. Last month, FIRE reported on UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’s misunderstanding of the relationship between free speech and civility, as expressed in an email to the university community. Thankfully, he soon sent a follow-up email that provided some clarification. But problems remain at UC Berkeley. Writing for The Washington Times, Kim R. Holmes reviewed just how free—or not—student and faculty expression is on the UC Berkeley campus: […]

FIRE Urges UC Berkeley to Honor ‘Free Speech Movement’; FIRE President to Speak at 50th Anniversary Event

September 26, 2014

BERKELEY, Calif., September 26, 2014—As the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the historic Free Speech Movement this fall, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) sent the university a letter today urging it to revise its six speech codes to comply with the First Amendment. FIRE President Greg Lukianoff will also be speaking at a campus event commemorating the Free Speech Movement on Saturday, September 27. “The University of California, Berkeley should be proud of the Free Speech Movement’s legacy and happy to celebrate this momentous occasion 50 years later,” said Lukianoff. “However, […]

Catch FIRE President Greg Lukianoff in D.C., Chapel Hill, and Berkeley Next Week

September 19, 2014

FIRE President Greg Lukianoff will be on the move next week as he travels from campus to campus to promote free speech and First Amendment rights at America’s colleges and universities. On Monday, Greg will be participating in the Fourth Annual President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge National Gathering on the campus of George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C. He will take part in a panel that will focus on the issue of religious liberties on campus and will be joined by Charles Haynes, the Director of the Newseum’s Religious Freedom Center. The panel will be moderated by […]

Free Speech, UC Davis, and the Anti-Defamation League

September 17, 2014

Peter Schmidt of The Chronicle of Higher Education reports today on an email that was sent to University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi by Seth Brysk of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which Katehi’s office forwarded to campus administrators. The email, the full text of which is publicly available on the Electronic Intifada website, is prompting discussion about how campuses should handle controversial issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While it’s not clear whether Katehi was meaning to endorse ADL’s perspective as written in the email or simply informing administrators about ADL’s views, it’s worth looking at a few […]

The Free Speech Movement vs. UC Berkeley Chancellor Dirks on Free Speech

September 12, 2014

FIRE President Greg Lukianoff and Popehat’s Ken White aren’t the only ones criticizing University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks for his half-hearted celebration of the 50th anniversary of UC Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement (FSM) last week. Members of the FSM itself are speaking up. The Berkeley Daily Planet reported yesterday that the Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives and the 50th Anniversary Organizing Committee have sent a letter to Dirks chastising him for “miss[ing] the central point” of the FSM. The directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives—several of whom faced government retaliation, including arrest, during […]

UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Email Is Very Wrong About Freedom of Speech

September 9, 2014

Popehat’s Ken White has called out University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) Chancellor Nicholas Dirks for an email he sent to faculty, staff, and students on Friday in which he utterly failed to grasp key First Amendment principles. Dirks began his email by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the “Free Speech Movement.” FIRE hoped UC Berkeley would use the occasion to bump itself up to a “green light” institution. Disappointingly, Dirks’ email devolved into a lecture on civility and responsibility as limits to freedom of expression. White took Dirks to task on Saturday, expertly explaining why Dirks’ email is so […]

FIRE President Takes On Berkeley Chancellor in WSJ; Releases New Book, ‘Freedom From Speech’

September 9, 2014

WASHINGTON, September 9, 2014—Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) announces the release of President Greg Lukianoff’s second book, Freedom From Speech, as well as his latest op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in which he criticizes the University of California, Berkeley chancellor’s weak defense of campus free speech. In Freedom From Speech, Lukianoff describes how threats to free speech are likely to increase both in the U.S. and abroad due to the marginalization of free speech as a cultural value. Lukianoff points to censorship overseas, “trigger warnings,” and the disinvitation of controversial speakers on campus as […]

UC Berkeley Should Commemorate the ‘Free Speech Movement’ By Becoming a ‘Green Light’ School

May 1, 2014

This year, the University of California, Berkeley is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the “Free Speech Movement,” which emerged in 1964 to protest UC Berkeley’s ban of on-campus political activities. However, the 50th anniversary isn’t until this fall, so UC Berkeley administrators still have plenty of time to make the event even more significant by revising the university’s speech-restrictive policies and becoming a “green light” institution.

Boring Campuses: Not Just the Fault of Helicopter Parents

April 16, 2014

In a new article, Slate’s Rebecca Schuman laments the phenomenon of colleges and universities becoming toned-down, less playful, even boring. Schuman argues that this is in part due to parents over-planning their kids’ lives, leaving them incapable of finding creative ways to have fun when they’re older and on their own: A recent trip back to my beloved alma mater, Vassar—combined with my interactions with students where I teach and some disappointing sleuthing—has made it apparent that much of the unstructured free play at college seems to have disappeared in favor of pre-professional anxiety, coupled with the nihilistic, homogeneous partying […]

Citing Centrality of ‘Robust and Discordant Expressions’ to University Life, OCR Dismisses Complaint of Anti-Semitism Against Berkeley

August 30, 2013

Last week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) dismissed a complaint (PDF) by Jewish students against the University of California, Berkeley. The complaint had alleged that anti-Israel protests on Berkeley’s campus created a hostile environment for Jewish students.  Explaining its decision to dismiss the complaint, OCR wrote: In the university environment, exposure to such robust and discordant expressions, even when personally offensive and hurtful, is a circumstance that a reasonable student in higher education may experience. In this context, the events that the complainants described do not constitute actionable harassment. It is stunning to hear OCR speak […]

From the Archives: The Fight for Freedom of Speech at UC Berkeley Helps Spark the Social Revolution of the 1960s

August 29, 2012

In theory, freedom of speech on college campuses should be a given. All public universities must abide by the First Amendment, and few secular private institutions explicitly disavow it. The problem arises when schools adopt policies that have the effect of curtailing freedom of expression in practice. Fifty years ago, the students at the University of California, Berkeley, faced exactly this dilemma. The administration banned political advocacy from public spaces on campus and did not respond meaningfully to three months of student protests, choosing instead to single out the student leaders of this “Free Speech Movement” (FSM) for punishment. Some […]

UC Violates Journalist’s Rights; California Taxpayers Lose $162,500

July 5, 2012

In another example of universities violating individual rights and leaving taxpayers with the bill, Californians are out $162,500 following the University of California, Berkeley’s settlement with a photojournalist whose photographs of a protest on Berkeley’s campus were wrongfully seized during the December 11, 2009, event.  David Morse, a journalist with Indybay, had been covering the protest against fee increases and budget cuts outside Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s on-campus residence when things turned violent and protesters began breaking windows and throwing torches. As UC police started arresting people, Morse was approached by an officer who, according to a lawsuit filed in […]

Uncool, Berkeley, Uncool.

May 4, 2012

Last week, University of California, Berkeley freshman Derek Low made a video, which quickly went viral, about tweaks he made to his freshman dorm room. Instead of complimenting him for his creativity, Berkeley is dragging him into a judicial hearing.   Low, an electrical engineering and computer science major, used his skills to turn his room, a typically small space he shares with two roommates, into B.R.A.D.—the Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm. The room wakes him up in the morning, turns on lights when he walks through the door, has a sleeping, studying, and partying mode, and responds to both voice […]

Berkeley Student Gov’t President Voids Referendum for Paper’s Funding

April 13, 2012

The Daily Californian, a student newspaper at the University of California at Berkeley, is reporting that a measure for direct student organization funding on the student ballot has been voided by the president of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), Vishalli Loomba.   The “V.O.I.C.E. Initiative” would have subsidized the printing and production of The Daily Californian to the tune of $2 per student per semester, coming out to roughly $93,800 annually. The Daily Californian writes:  Loomba’s order comes just as the second of three voting days for the election begins. In the order, she cites a […]

University of California Schools Flout Student Speech Rights

November 29, 2011

While some University of California schools are facing scrutiny due to their handling of students’ exercises of free speech and civil disobedience, others in the system have unfinished business protecting students’ free speech rights in their policies. All eight of the UC universities reviewed by FIRE have “red light” or “yellow light” ratings for restricting campus speech, and four of them have flouted UC President Mark Yudof’s 2009 directive to protect free speech in their policies regarding discriminatory harassment. UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz all have been rated by FIRE with a red light for […]

Affirmative Action Bake Sale at Berkeley Causes Campus Consternation

September 26, 2011

An “affirmative action bake sale” protest planned by the Berkeley College Republicans for tomorrow has caused an uproar at the University of California’s flagship campus. Affirmative action bake sales, for those who don’t know, are a widely used form of satirical protest against affirmative action (as viewed by the organizers). Organizers display a satirical bake sale price list in which, for example, black and Hispanic students are to be charged lower prices than Asian and white students for the same items. These events are intended to spark debate and awareness about affirmative action policies, not to raise revenue. Thankfully, Berkeley […]

‘Daily Texan’ Addresses Berkeley Chancellor’s Chilling Campus E-mail

January 19, 2011

The Daily Texan at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) has published a compelling editorial examining University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau’s recent e-mail to the campus community following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. The Daily Texan questions Birgeneau’s e-mail in the context of his prominent position, pointing out that “this power can be used to stifle discourse.” The editorial also draws connections between the chilling effect of Birgeneau’s e-mail and the speech codes at UT that restrict student speech. In addition to The Daily Texan‘s forceful piece, be sure to read Adam Kissel’s and […]

‘L.A. Times’ Article Highlights UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Folly

January 14, 2011

An article in the Los Angeles Times today highlighted the critical response to University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau’s campus-wide e-mail from this week, in which he “linked a Tucson shooting rampage with Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants and the failure of the DREAM Act.” As FIRE’s Adam Kissel detailed in a Torch post that was picked up by The Huffington Post, Birgeneau sent a message to the Berkeley community after Jared Lee Loughner’s mass shooting in Arizona killed six people and seriously wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Birgeneau placed part of the blame for this tragedy on a “climate” of hateful […]

‘Los Angeles Times’ Quotes FIRE on Berkeley Chancellor’s E-mail about Arizona

January 14, 2011

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau controversially e-mailed the whole campus on Monday, placing blame for the Tucson, Arizona, shooting on the “climate” of speech in Arizona. Birgeneau went so far as to write that “A climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated can lead to such a tragedy.” Criticism of Birgeneau’s e-mail has been making its way across the news wires, and today, Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times picked up FIRE’s reaction to Birgeneau’s e-mail: A leader of the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a civil liberties group, also criticized […]

UC Berkeley chancellor’s e-mail linking Tucson rampage to issue of immigration draws criticism

January 14, 2011

Campus-wide e-mail ties Tucson rampage to Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants and the failure of the DREAM Act. by Howard Blume Los Angeles Times   View this article at Los Angeles Times.

Berkeley Student Weighs in on Chancellor’s Controversial Statement Regarding AZ Tragedy

January 14, 2011

2010 FIRE Intern and UC Berkeley student Casey Given discusses his chancellor’s controversial statement following the tragic shooting in Arizona and calls on fellow students to stand up for free speech on campus in the wake of similar challenges that conflate speech with violent action.

Instapundit Highlights FIRE’s Response to Berkeley Chancellor

January 12, 2011

Blogger and law professor Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit highlighted Adam’s blog post lamenting UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau’s response to the recent shooting in Arizona.

Adam Kissel Featured on ‘The Huffington Post’

January 11, 2011

Adam Kissel’s examination of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s e-mail to the UC Berkeley community regarding the Arizona shooting and the threat of “hate speech” has been republished on The Huffington Post.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Blames Arizona Shooting on ‘Hateful Speech,’ Warns of Safety Consequences on Campus

January 11, 2011

Yesterday morning, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau e-mailed the campus community with regard to the horrendous mass shooting in Arizona that killed a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl, and several others while gravely injuring Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the apparent target of the attack. Like many others in the news media and on blogs and Twitter, Birgeneau chose to put the blame for the shooting on the “climate” of speech in Arizona, while lamenting what he sees as similar problems at his own institution. The key sentence: “A climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated can lead […]

‘California Watch’: No Free Speech at California Colleges

January 7, 2011

Free speech is not safe at California colleges—not by a long shot. That’s what investigative reporter Erica Perez found in FIRE’s 2011 speech code report, as she wrote yesterday for California Watch: A new report from a national free speech advocacy organization found most of the four-year universities it surveyed had speech codes that substantially limit students’ freedom of speech, including dozens of colleges in California. […] Of the 33 California universities the organization rated, 64 percent got a red light, including San Diego State University, UC Santa Cruz and Claremont McKenna College. About 36 percent got a yellow light, including UC Berkeley, Occidental College and San Jose State University. […]

Former FIRE Intern Urges UC Berkeley to Live Up to its Reputation

November 16, 2010

Former FIRE Intern and current University of California at Berkeley junior Casey Given has written an excellent column for The Daily Californian about censorship on campus. Torch readers might remember Given’s August blog post criticizing the Berkeley Administration for failing to punish acts of civil disobedience. In his Daily Californian column, he laments the divergence between Berkeley’s perceived image as a beacon of free speech and the much sadder reality. To most outsiders, “Berkeley” is synonymous with “free speech.” Simply uttering our university’s name to them conjures up images of bearded bohemians and flower children peacefully rallying for a hippie cause […]

3,000 Copies of ‘The Daily Californian’ Stolen on Eve of 2010 Midterm Elections

November 4, 2010

The Daily Californian‘s news blog reported on October 30 that 3,000 copies of the student paper went missing from a central distribution point on the University of California at Berkeley’s campus early last Thursday morning. At about 8 a.m. on Oct. 28, a distribution team member arriving to pick up a stack of the newspapers from the sidewalk south of Sproul Hall on Bancroft Way found the papers – 3,000 of The Daily Californian‘s approximate 10,000 daily circulation – gone from the distribution point. Another team member returning to Sproul for additional papers confirmed the missing stack. Diane Rames, general […]

Berkeley Student Charged with ‘Unauthorized Conduct’ for Addressing Police Officer about Campus Bike Rules

November 1, 2010

You might remember ScooterGate, in which the University of Georgia (UGA) charged a student with “disruption” and “disorderly conduct” because he sent a mocking e-mail to UGA Parking Services to complain about the lack of campus parking spaces for scooters. Well, the University of California at Berkeley now has BikeGate—and it’s a great example of the abuse of police power to oppress free speech at UC Berkeley. Here’s what happened: At UC Berkeley, the UC Police enforce a no-ride zone where riding bicycles is banned 10 hours a day (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Monday through Friday, “[i]n the area […]

The Blurred Limit of Expression at the Home of the Free Speech Movement

August 10, 2010

To many people, “Berkeley” is synonymous with “protest.” Mentioning the University of California, Berkeley often conjures up images of bearded bohemians and flower children peacefully rallying for a “hippie” cause of the past, such as the famous Free Speech Movement of the mid-sixties. Indeed, Berkeley’s protest culture has given the university a reputation for being a bastion for freedom of expression, which can be quite attractive to prospective students looking for a unique college experience. I know because I was once one of them. At Berkeley, so I thought, I would be immersed in an Eden of free speech, a […]

Does ‘The Berkeley Experience’ Treat Students Like Children by Encouraging Protesters to Go Too Far?

July 9, 2010

University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor and FIRE friend Donald Downs published an excellent article yesterday on Minding the Campus. The article examines how the University of California, Berkeley, might have sown the seeds of its own chaos prior to violent protests last November and December, which even included a violent attack on Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s home. Focusing on Berkeley’s report on these events, Don argues that Berkeley has drawn students who are interested to share in “The Berkeley Experience” of vehement protest dating back to the Free Speech Movement, but has failed to teach them that the rule of law applies in […]

Berkeley Claims Control of the Word ‘California’ But Permits Student Group to Use It

May 3, 2010

The University of California at Berkeley restricts student organizations from using the words “California,” “Cal,” and “Berkeley” in organization names without prior permission. Like many colleges and universities across California, Berkeley is enforcing unconstitutional provisions that prevent the use of school names in a wide variety of contexts, even when there is no confusion between private speech and official university speech. These provisions chill speech across the state. With FIRE’s help, a longstanding Berkeley student publication, California Patriot, is now allowed to register under its actual name. Berkeley’s rules for student organization names include bans on the use of certain […]

Victory for Freedom of Speech at University of Arizona: Refund of Security Fee for Controversial Speaker

July 6, 2009

Today’s press release announces yet another FIRE victory on behalf of a student group unfairly burdened with the cost of bringing controversial speakers to campus. Late last week, FIRE learned that the University of Arizona was reversing its decision to charge the College Republicans $384.72 in extra security fees for an event featuring author and conservative activist David Horowitz. As FIRE has reminded America’s universities time and again throughout our ten-year existence, charging speakers or their student hosts for extra security fees solely because they may provoke hostile reactions from audience members affixes a price tag to protected speech and […]

Four FIRE Cases on Security Fees Top Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle

March 31, 2009

Page A-1 of Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle features four of FIRE’s cases on unacceptably high security fees for controversial speakers. In each case, the potential reaction of the audience was used to assess security fees and charge them to the host. But as the Supreme Court wrote in Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (1992), “Speech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob.” In the article, Bob Egelko points out that both Berkeley and UCLA, two of the three top-ranked schools in U.S. News & World Report, […]

Rights in the News: FIRE Stands up for Virginia Tech Faculty

March 27, 2009

As you may have read in The Torch this week, FIRE is leading the charge against requirements at Virginia Tech that tie tenure and promotion to a commitment to “diversity”—requirements that amount to a political loyalty oath for faculty members. Such requirements, as FIRE and others have written, are a serious threat to academic freedom and freedom of conscience. In addition to Adam’s coverage of FIRE’s efforts at Virginia Tech, Robin Wilson of The Chronicle of Higher Education has written on the growing criticism directed at the guidelines (subscription required). Ashley Thorne at the National Association of Scholars notes FIRE’s […]

Controversial Speakers Face Huge Security Fees at Berkeley and Colorado

March 17, 2009

Today’s press release calls upon the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Colorado at Boulder to meet their constitutional responsibility not to burden controversial speakers or ideas on campus. The principle is pretty clear: whether the speaker is controversial, popular, or unremarkable, similar security fees should be assessed for similar events. All too often, we have seen the assessment of very high “security costs” as a pretext for punishing or even excluding unpopular or controversial speakers. The truth is that if any extra security is deemed necessary because of a potentially hostile audience, it is the responsibility […]

The State of Free Speech on Campus: UC–Berkeley

February 9, 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 the University of California–Berkeley. UC–Berkeley receives a yellow-light rating, which means that there are one or more policies in place that can too easily be used to restrict protected speech. A yellow-light institution differs from a red-light institution in that its policies do not explicitly prohibit large quantities of protected expression. At a yellow-light institution, policies either contain narrower restrictions on protected expression or, while not […]

Free Speech under Attack during Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

October 25, 2007

This week, as the Terrorism Awareness Project provides speakers at college campuses in order to increase awareness about terrorism of the Muslim extremist variety, the predictable has come to pass: speakers have been prevented by protesters from enjoying their freedom of speech. At Emory University, David Horowitz’s lecture ended prematurely when audience members refused to hear him out. A photo essay describes what protesters did to Nonie Darwish at Berkeley. Rick Santorum suffered a similar fate at Penn State. The Washington Times has a list of those who are blogging about such events here. Students who are hosting a screening […]

Emmett Hogan on 2006: The More Things Change…?

January 5, 2007

Emmett Hogan is a student at University of Michigan Law School and a luminary early FIRE employee. As we looked back on 2006 in campus rights and abuses I wanted to check in with him for his thoughts on the past year in FIRE history. This was his thoughtful response: One of FIRE’s most gripping cases from 2006 involved a breathtaking exercise in thought reform by Michigan State University. FIRE publicly challenged what MSU calls a “Student Accountability in Community Seminar” (SAC) which is intended to address student behavior that administrators consider unacceptable; the seminar is successful only when it […]

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 that advocates for best practices among college media outlets.   According to the SPLC, the AEJMC passed the resolution of censure following the OCC Board of Trustees’ December decision not to renew student newspaper advisor Karen Bosley’s contract.   Bosley’s “offense” was allowing the newspaper […]

Newspaper Theft at Troy University: Facebook Article Involved?

February 15, 2006

Today’s Inside Higher Ed features an article about an instance of illegal censorship at Troy University in Alabama, which holds the dubious distinction of being one of the targets of FIRE’s Speech Codes Litigation Project because of its unconstitutional speech code. The latest instance of censorship at Troy came last Thursday, when nearly 2,000 out of 3,000 printed copies of the Tropolitan, Troy’s main campus newspaper, were stolen from their distribution sites. Tropolitan staffers surmise that the theft might be connected to the fact that an article in that edition of the paper revealed that university police officers might be […]

The Generational Swindle (Part 1001)

May 12, 2005

Berkeley, where pot smoking was a basic civil right in the sixties, has banned drinking in the fraternities, turning its sights on demon rum in the hands of the wrong kinds of students. Berkeley: Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair, but watch out for Carrie Nation, Big Brother, and Big Sister.  How would that have sounded during the Revolution?  “Hey, Mario Savio and you kids from SDS, put down that beer or get busted!”

Theft of Free Newspapers to Be a Crime in Berkeley

October 14, 2003

Censorship, Robbery, and Threats at Berkeley

March 8, 2002

Conservative Magazine Burglarized at UC-Berkeley

February 27, 2002