ACTA's Must-Reads
« Out of the frying pan... | Main | Changing face of undergraduates »
Trustees have free speech, too
On Tuesday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Thomas Hamilton, a member of St. Clair Community College's Board of Trustees. Hamilton has for the past several years been an increasingly outspoken critic of the College's president, Rose Bellanca; he has also repeatedly questioned whether the Board has adequately supervised what he sees as her questionable performance. Last November, the Board adopted a new "Code of Ethics and Responsibilities" that amounted to a speech code specially directed at trustees. Among its provisions are the stipulations that trustees must "engage in positive public relations for the college," that they must "not solicit or encourage faculty, student or employee concerns, whether by telephone, Internet (e-mail), or any other verbal or written communication unless previously authorized by the board," that they must "not participate in any meeting outside of a legal assembly of the board in which matters of board substance are discussed," and that they must "not visit the campus in order to talk with students, faculty or employees without first notifying the college president." The code effectively muzzles Hamilton, who had previously been pressured to stop criticizing Bellanca, and who has since had to give up his practice of meeting with interested groups to discuss the college. As such, argues the ACLU, the code violates the expressive and associative rights not only of Hamilton, but of all members of the Board of Trustees. Read more at InsideHigherEd.com.
Posted by acta online at April 21, 2005 09:09 AM