PHILADELPHIA, December 30, 2008—While restrictions on freedom of
speech and other First Amendment rights once again abounded on
America's campuses in 2008, the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (FIRE) enlisted more students and faculty members than ever
in its fight against campus censorship. Thanks to this groundswell of
support, FIRE secured essential victories for freedom of speech and
against limits on political activism—both on our nation's campuses and
in courts of law.
"In 2008, FIRE made significant progress in protecting individual
rights, fighting double standards, and turning back the tide of
repression on campus," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "FIRE is
heading into 2009 better equipped than ever to fight and win battles
for civil liberties and fundamental fairness at America's colleges and
universities."
FIRE won many victories for freedom of speech, religious liberty,
freedom of association, and freedom of conscience throughout 2008,
including key legal victories for student rights on campus. These
successes included:
* Reversing the finding of racial harassment against a student-
employee at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, whose
"offense" consisted of reading a book in an employee break room about
the 1924 defeat of the Ku Klux Klan in a street fight with Notre Dame
students. The case has been made into a documentary.
* Reversing the expulsion of a student at Valdosta State
University who had peacefully protested against new parking garages
via Facebook.com, and persuading Valdosta State to eliminate its tiny,
restrictive free speech zone. This case is the subject of a short
film.
* Convincing the University of Delaware to revise its formerly
unconstitutional distribution policy and to keep mandatory ideological
reeducation out of its dormitories.
* Intervening to protect funding for student groups at
Montclair State University and Central Washington University, where
student governments threatened to de-fund the groups because of their
constitutionally protected expression.
* Persuading Temple College in Texas to reverse its censorship
of a professor for posting a quotation from Nietszche ("God is dead")
on his office door.
* Fighting attempts by the Department of Social Work at
Binghamton University (formerly SUNY-Binghamton) to expel a student
for posting flyers criticizing a recent hiring decision by the
department. FIRE succeeded in ending the farcical disciplinary hearing
against student André Massena, but he now faces reported retaliation
from the department that would fail him out of school.
Free speech on campus also gained a major legal victory when the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in DeJohn
v. Temple University that Temple University's former speech code was
unconstitutional. FIRE, which wrote an amicus brief in the case, now
has alerted hundreds of schools that they maintain similar speech
codes at their legal peril. Between this decision and the legal
victory against the speech codes of the California State University
System last year, practically no college administrator can claim
ignorance of the law.
In addition, under legal pressure, Shippensburg University agreed for
the second time to dismantle an unconstitutional speech code that was
originally eliminated four years ago in a suit brought by FIRE Legal
Network attorneys.
"It is time for public college and university administrators to heed
the clear message that the courts have been sending for nearly twenty
years now: free speech on campus is not optional," William Creeley,
FIRE's Director of Legal and Public Advocacy, said.
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/10084.html
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