Category: Current issues

R U Speechless?

This web site began with a class of communications students in the spring of 2013 who challenged some of the constitutional infirmities in Radford (Va.) University speech policies.

Some of the policies changed as a result, and some should have changed but did not. The moral of the story? The struggle for freedom is endless, and it  requires patience, compassion and courage.

— Prof. Bill Kovarik, 2026

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Freedom of speech and press are fundamental rights guaranteed under Sec. 12 of the Virginia Constitution, the First Amendment of the US Bill of Rights,   Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  and Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Academic freedom is specifically established in Article 13 of the EU Charter, and linked in the US to the First Amendment by Chief Justice Earl Warren in Sweezy v New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234  (1957). The court’s opinion noted:

The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. No one should underestimate the vital role in a democracy that is played by those who guide and train our youth. To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation.  

And yet,  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, this web site  formed the report of a special topics class requested by then-provost Sam Minner in 2013. It continues to the present to track limits on student and faculty expression. Continue reading “R U Speechless?” →

Dixie University loses lawsuit over Greek letters

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.

(MORE)

Frat signs? No problem for Lexington

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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

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.

Continue reading “The rise of the administrative university” →

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

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

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.