Tag: Academic Freedom

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Universities get failing grade on free speech

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education report on universities notes that “many … institutions severely restrict free speech and open debate. Speech codes—policies prohibiting student and faculty speech that would, outside the bounds of campus, be protected by the First Amendment—have repeatedly been struck down by federal and state courts for decades. Yet they persist, even in the very jurisdictions where they have been ruled unconstitutional. The majority of American colleges and universities maintain speech codes.”

FIRE’s recent survey of 437 schools found that more than 55 percent maintain severely restrictive, “red light” speech codes—policies that clearly and substantially prohibit protected speech.

The report notes that “colleges’ restrictions on free speech varies by state. In Missouri, for example, over 85 percent of schools surveyed received a red light rating. In contrast, two of the best states for free speech in higher education were Virginia and Indiana, where only 31 percent and 25 percent of schools surveyed, respectively, received a red light rating.”

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Excuses are still being found to limit speech on campuses.  “…FIRE continues to see an unacceptable number of universities punishing students and faculty members for constitutionally protected speech and expression. It is essential that students, faculty, and free speech advocates remain vigilant not only about campus speech codes but also about the way universities may—even in the absence of a policy that is unconstitutional as written—silence or punish protected speech.”

“Of the 437 schools reviewed by FIRE, 241 received a red light rating [most restrictive] (55.2%), 171 received a yellow light rating (39.1%), and 18 received a green light rating [least restrictive] (4.1%). FIRE did not rate seven schools (1.6%). FIRE rated 333 public colleges and universities. Of these, 54.1% received a red light rating, 41.4% received a yellow light rating, and 4.5% received a green light rating. Since public colleges and universities are legally bound to protect their students’ First Amendment rights, any percentage above zero is unacceptable, so much work remains to be done.”

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The Alienated Generation

College students throughout America have exhibited an inexplicable degree of tolerance towards overbearing university officials and professors who have all too frequently acted to suppress differences of opinion toward the prevailing campus orthodoxy.  These young scholars bear little resemblance to their parents’ or grandparents activist generation, who brought to life the “Free Speech” movement in the 1960s and were outspoken in their views. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)  notes that “Many schools stifle free speech on campus. ACTA partnered with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education to assess the state of free speech on campus. Of the institutions that have ratings from FIRE, less than 4 percent receive a “green light” rating for not threatening free speech. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) garner a “red light” rating, meaning the institution has at least one policy that “clearly and substantially” restricts freedom of speech.”

Why do college students tolerate this? It may have much to do with what they were—and were not—taught in high school, as well as the odd version of American history and civics that they are given in college.  Across the nation, parents, pupils, and others have become deeply concerned over a growing reliance on curricula that provides little reference to topics such as the ground-breaking rights provided in the U.S. Constitution, including free speech, and dwells on biased, highly critical views of the American experience.

The problem may be getting worse.  The College Board, a private organization which sets the tone for setting  course guidelines and administers the SAT exams and advanced placement courses, is exerting greater control of what high schoolers are being taught.  What they are prescribing has been described as unduly critical of America.

Recently, the scholarly publication The Federalist described the College Board’s latest guidelines:
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“The redesigned Framework usurps state curriculum standards by unilaterally decreeing what students should know with no public input or consent. State standards across America, while including the dark events in American history, also celebrate our nation’s founders, core values, and heroic servicemen and women. In contrast, the College Board’s “required knowledge” inculcates a consistently negative view of American history that focuses on identity group grievances, conflict, exploitation, and examples of oppression.”

ACTA has reported on the disappointing state of college education:  “Only 22 institutions (2 percent) receive an “A” grade for requiring at least six of seven subjects that are essential to a liberal arts education: literature, composition, economics, math, intermediate level foreign language, science, and American government/history. The average institution requires about three courses—meaning most students are graduating from college without exposure to such fundamental courses as American history, basic economics or literature. In too many places, graduates aren’t expected to have any more knowledge of these pivotal courses than a twelfth grader.”

America’s educational system is dangerously close to producing a generation that is unfamiliar with their Constitutional rights, and holding an incorrect and highly derogatory view of their own country.

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Academic Campaign vs. Free Speech

From one end of the nation to the other, the most fundamental portion of the Bill of Rights, the right to freedom of speech and assembly, is under persistent, sustained, and serious attack at our academic institutions.

The particular targets of this assault tend to be those students who express traditional beliefs in patriotism, faith, and liberty. Systematic methods are employed by colleges to restrict First Amendment rights. These include:

Restricting free speech in all but so-called “free speech zones,” which are tightly regulated.  In practice, many of the concepts that tend to be forced out of the general campus and limited to these thought ghettos are right of center.

One example: Breitbart reports that at Penn State, where only 12 small spaces on the 8,500 acre campus are available to express free thought, student members of the Young Americans for Freedom organization were told to remove a table bearing their literature.

Restricting the concept of freedom of assembly. The Wall Street Journal noted that “the California State University System ‘derecognized’ 23 campus chapters of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship” because membership was restricted to Christians.  Similarly, as revealed in a Bloomberg article, Wesleyan University has mandated that fraternities must admit females.

The paper has also revealed that Chancellor Nicolas Dirks of the University of California at Berkley, (ironically, the home of the Free Speech Movement in the ‘60’s) believes free speech can cause “division and divisiveness that undermine a community’s foundation” and could threaten the “delicate balance between communal interests.”
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Pressure on speaker selections. University officials have pressured student groups to “disinvite” certain speakers selected to address student organizations. New York’s Fordham University pressured its student Republican Club to cancel its invitation to conservative columnist Ann Coulter.

Last month, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education  sent a certified mailing to America’s 300 largest and most prestigious public colleges and universities noting that “they risk First Amendment lawsuits by continuing to maintain speech codes that violate student and faculty rights.” The letters were mailed from the main post office near Independence Hall in Philadelphia to mark the 227th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

The problem isn’t restricted to colleges.  Some high schools have forced students wearing clothing that they consider “political” to change their appearance.  This includes students wearing American flag-themed T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.  Items expressing support for the Second Amendment have also been the subject of disciplinary action.

At the grammar school level, absurd restrictions extend even to lunch room behavior such as sharing food. An EAGnews.org summary quotes an ABC 7 report that in Weaverville, Calif. The local school board has banned sharing food.

These are only a few of the many examples.  Throughout academia, the prevailing orthodoxy has sought to stop reasonable discussion by imposing restrictions on students—and on teaching staff—with differing views, or with the intellectual curiosity to intelligently explore the reasoning and factual basis of the ruling institutional biases.