ASHLAND UNIVERSITY: NO OBJECTIVISTS NEED APPLY After denying tenure to a history professor because he engaged in Objectivist scholarship, Ohio’s Ashland University has struck a deal with John Lewis, granting him tenure but only if he resigns from the university. FIRE wrote to Ashland in March advocating for Lewis’ tenure bid, citing the fact that the university had accepted $100,000 from a private foundation to fund Lewis’ Objectivist research. FIRE also argued that Ashland was contractually obligated to uphold professors’ full academic freedom and free speech rights. Lewis will be on leave until May 2008, when he will resign from Ashland.

CAMPUS ALERT: WHEN HEZBOLLAH TRUMPS OLD GLORY   FIRE’s Campus Alert column in yesterday’s New York Post discussed the federal lawsuit the San Francisco State University (SFSU) College Republicans filed against their university, alleging that SFSU violated the group’s First Amendment rights by investigating them for stepping on Hamas and Hezbollah flags at an anti-terrorism rally. Even though well-established United States Supreme Court case law allows flag desecration as a form of political expression, SFSU subjected the College Republicans to a five-month investigation for their “offense,” instead of dismissing the charges. The lawsuit also challenges SFSU’s speech code, which requires students “to be civil” to one another—an arbitrary policy that can be subjectively enforced against dissenting opinions on campus. As yesterday’s Campus Alert made clear, SFSU’s investigation and its maintenance of unconstitutional speech codes is not a close call, constitutionally speaking, and now SFSU must answer for its actions in court.

SPEECH CODE OF THE MONTH: MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY   FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for July 2007: McNeese State University. This public university in Louisiana maintains a set of “Public Forum Regulations” that quarantine free speech to just two areas of campus and place onerous restrictions on the use of those areas. In addition, the regulations restrict where students can speak; how frequently they can speak; how long they can speak; and at what times of the day and week they can speak. Finally, they require students to give at least 3 days advance notice in order to speak. There is simply no justification for a public university to place such burdensome restrictions on its students’ constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and assembly. Not only would this policy not hold up in a court of law, but it is also a moral outrage.

Liberty Letters Comment: A Liberty Letters reader recently objected in reference to speech codes, that this was "old news," that they've been outlawed. Truth is, federal code change or not, it is a BIG problem, both in formal and informal policies enacted and enforced by the liberal commies of America that infest our campuses, our courts, and our media. Get out of denial and do something, like support our friends at FIRE.

Source:  Liberty Letters' friend FIRE.org. Used with permission.

 Print This Post | Other posts by Steve Farrell