The proposed law would mandate that public and charter schools, city parks, city libraries, and the University of District Columbia ban any gesture or written, verbal or physical act, including electronic communication, that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
Public University Professor Being Investigated for Condemning Homosexuality in Class
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports: An Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate student has filed a complaint with the school’s human resources department, alleging one of her business professors subjected her to humiliation and insults based on her sexuality…. Santiago said the class, instructed by faculty member Dr. Maali Ashamalla, was discussing ethics and legalities. She said […]
District Court Opinion on the First Amendment and Public University Professors
To what extent does the First Amendment protect public university professors — including untenured professors — from being disciplined or fired based on their scholarship or public commentary? The matter is not entirely clear, partly because of Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006), which held that the government has a largely free hand in making employment decisions […]
UC Irvine Students Convicted for Disrupting Speech
By Eugene Volokh on September 23, 2011 4:42 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
The AP reports: A California jury found 10 Muslim students guilty Friday of disrupting the Israeli ambassador’s university speech about U.S.-Israel relations, a case that stoked a debate about free speech…. They were charged with misdemeanor counts after standing up, one by one, and shouting prepared statements such as “propagating murder is not an expression […]
College Department Chair Sues Professor for Libel, Loses
By Eugene Volokh on August 18, 2011 12:43 pm in Defamation, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
An interesting example of this fortunately rare occurrence comes in Olguin v. Santa Barbara Community College Dist. (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 15, 2011). The case has an interesting discussion of the state-law “common interest privilege,” which is quite important in cases involving alleged defamation within an organization or in job references; but here is an […]
The UCSD Committee on Academic Freedom Report
By Eugene Volokh on May 27, 2011 5:10 pm in Academia, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
A colleague pointed me to the report, which also quotes the don’t-publish-your-article letter from the dean. (For more on the matter, see this post from earlier today.) Here’s the substance of the report: The charge of the Academic Senate Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) is to “report to the Division any conditions within or without […]
Did Dean Order a UC San Diego Professor Not to Publish an Article Critical of a Colleague?
By Eugene Volokh on May 27, 2011 2:58 pm in Academia, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
So alleges the UCSD faculty assembly, “after hearing a detailed and strongly worded report from its Committee on Academic Freedom,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune: The issue involves Richard Biernacki, a professor of sociology, and Jeff Elman, dean of the Division of Social Sciences. In June 2009, Biernacki submitted a manuscript titled “Inside the […]
University Political Discrimination Case Brought by Prof. Michael Adams (a Noted Conservative Commentator)
The Fourth Circuit just handed down its decision in this case, Adams v. UNCW. The court concluded that Prof. Adams didn’t introduce sufficient evidence to support his religious discrimination claim, and that the claim was therefore rightly dismissed before trial. But the court also concluded that Adams’ political discrimination claim could proceed. Here’s a very […]
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education on the UCLA Undergrad’s “Asians in the Library” Video
As FIRE puts it, “For the last couple of days, controversy has been buzzing about a YouTube video (now with more than 1.3 million views) from a college student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who chose to take to the Internet to complain about the behavior of Asian students in the UCLA […]
Prosecution of Students Who Disrupted UC Irvine Speech by Israeli Ambassador
By Eugene Volokh on February 9, 2011 3:36 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
The L.A. Times reported late last week that The Orange County district attorney’s office on Friday charged 11 defendants with conspiring to disrupt a meeting and a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States at UC Irvine last year…. In a statement, Orange County Dist. Atty.Tony Rackauckas said the case was filed because […]
Virginia’s Worst University Speech Code?
By Ilya Somin on November 2, 2010 4:56 pm in Academia, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Barton Hinkle has a column surveying speech codes at Virginia public universities {HT: co-blogger Todd Zywicki]. It turns out that George Mason University may have the worst of a bad lot: Free speech is one of those values to which everyone gives lip service. Nearly no one considers himself pro-censorship. Yet as […]
DePaul University Says No to Pro-Marijuana-Legalization Group
By Eugene Volokh on October 18, 2010 7:03 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities, War on Drugs
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has the details. The university admits that it is excluding the group from generally available student group registration benefits, because the university disapproves of the group’s message: Considerable research indicates the use of cannabis does not contribute to healthy decision-making, particularly in college-age populations. Given the above, the […]
No Viewpoint-Based Exclusions from Ostensibly Open Event on College Property
By Eugene Volokh on October 4, 2010 7:10 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
From Yates v. Fithian (W.D. Wash. Sept. 23, 2010): Plaintiffs allege in this action that defendants excluded them from the Bellevue College (“College”) gymnasium while a Maria Cantwell Campaign event was taking place. Plaintiff students claim that they were refused entry because they wore t-shirts bearing the name of Cantwell’s opponent [McGavick], and that as […]
Nebraska Supreme Court Decision on Offensive E-Mails
By Eugene Volokh on September 24, 2010 2:29 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
Here is an edited version of the opinion in the First Amendment / cyberspace law case that I briefed and argued, and that the Nebraska Supreme Court just decided today. It shouldn’t be terribly surprising or novel to those who know First Amendment law (though the Nebraska Court of Appeals decision that the Nebraska Supreme […]
Nebraska Supreme Court Reverses Disturbing-the-Peace Convictions for Sending Rude E-Mails to Professor Who Was Running for the Legislature
By Eugene Volokh on September 24, 2010 10:04 am in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
This is the case that I briefed and argued last year (see here for my initial post about the petition for review to the Nebraska Supreme Court, and here for the various documents in the case, including the Nebraska Court of Appeals decision that had upheld the convictions). I’ll post more on the subject today, […]