Category Archives: Current issues

Higher Ed & the 1st Amendment

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RU Speechless?

Freedom of speech and press are fundamental rights guaranteed under the Virginia Constitution, the First Amendment of the US Bill of Rights and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

But freedom of speech is often not recognized in the one place where it ought to be respected the most:  A college campus in the USA.

Today many universities simply refuse to recognize First Amendment rights until they are forced to do so by a court. At Radford University, where this blog formed the  report of a class requested by then-provost Sam Minner, avenues for student expression are strictly limited in ways that are clearly unconstitutional. Continue reading →

Dixie University loses lawsuit over Greek letters

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by  May 5, 2015

ST. GEORGE, Utah, May 5, 2015—Dixie State University has announced that it will suspend the unconstitutional speech codes that three students challenged in a First Amendment lawsuit filed in March. The lawsuit, which is supported by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), targeted Dixie State’s unconstitutional flyer approval process, posting policies, “free speech zone,” and club event policies—all of which are now suspended.

In addition to suspending the speech codes, Dixie State President Richard B. Williams announced in an email yesterday to the campus community that the university will permanently revise its policies. In his email, President Williams stated that Dixie State is a place “where even unpopular answers, seemingly absurd ideas, and unconventional thought are not only permitted, but even encouraged.”

FIRE will continue to monitor developments at Dixie State closely to ensure that the university’s apparent recognition of First Amendment principles translates into meaningful policy reform.

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Frat signs? No problem for Lexington

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Frat.Lex.OXPh Frat.Lex.EAE Frat.Lexington

On a spring day in Lexington, Va., fraternity row openly sports Greek letters without any apparent unease from town officials. In fact, two of these houses are across the street from the police station.   The “animal house” fraternity is around the corner.  Just how similar signs might — in some imaginary universe — represent a threat to the peace and dignity of the City of Radford is one of life’s mysteries.  Yet the city persists not only in maintaing its unconstitutional fraternity sign ban,  but also in refusing to discuss the issues.

The rise of the administrative university

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By Glen Martin, for the RU AAUP, Oct. 2012

Books are beginning to appear about the nation-wide conversion of universities away from institutions dedicated to truth and knowledge and into a business model of education.  One such book is by Benjamin Ginsberg called The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why it Matters (2011). Ginsberg chronicles the demise of academic freedom, tenure, and the traditional faculty-driven conception of a quality curriculum and the independent pursuit of truth.

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WVU’s opinion on “free speech zones” around campus

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Michael Bomford and Matthew Pow (students at WVU) founded the West Virginia Free Speech Consotorium and set a policy allowing only two free speech zones on campus. Police said that this violated the University’s free speech rights and abandoned the policy. West Virginia University’s Board of Governers replaced it and now uses the new policy of no censorship zones.

Click here for the full story: http://thefire.org/case/30.html

Freedom of Association bills pass Virginia assembly

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Both houses of the Virginia General Assembly have passed “Freedom of Association”  bills that allow religious and political groups at state colleges to restrict membership to individuals who are “committed” to the organization’s mission. Opponents of the legislation said the bills are thinly veiled attempts to let subsidized campus groups discriminate against gay students.

“It’s pretty simple: A Democratic club shouldn’t have to accept a Republican as a member and members of a religious group should be able to expect that their leadership will share the group’s core commitments,” Mark Obenshain, a state senator from Harrisonburg, told the Roanoke Times.

The idea of freedom of association was supported in a US Supreme Court case in 1995, Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston. But the case did not involve state funding of the groups in question, and the Supreme Court also said that Boston gays had a right to stage their own separate parade.