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Northern Kentucky rethinks speech
Last spring, Northern Kentucky University made headlines when a professor led students in the destruction of a student group's anti-abortion display. NKU was praised for condemning the professor's acts and for upholding the expressive rights of the students whose display was destroyed. But, as ACTA noted on this blog and in a letter to NKU's Board of Regents, the problems at NKU did not begin and end with one professor's failure to respect the constitutional rights of students whose politics differed from hers: NKU's speech code, which indirectly encouraged the sort of behavior the professor engaged in, was the real issue at hand, and required immediate attention.
Now NKU's student newspaper is reporting that university officials appear to be addressing the problem ACTA pointed out last spring. They have drafted a new policy on free expression, and the policy is now making the evaluative rounds. It has been approved by the Faculty Senate, and the Board of Regents is expected to vote on it by March.
The proposed policy focuses on "protests, rallies and demonstrations, postings and temporary displays," and declares that "Northern Kentucky University affirms and supports the concepts of freedom of thought, conscience, inquiry, speech, and lawful assembly. In keeping with these rights, the University affirms that the substance or the nature of the views expressed is not an appropriate basis for any restriction upon or encouragement of a protest, rally, demonstration, poster, flyer, banner or other forms of speech unless prohibited by law." Such language works to clarify the nature of the wrong that was done last spring, when a faculty member took it upon herself to destroy a display that she found offensive. In that regard, the new policy marks a necessary and important gesture.
It's worth noting, though, that NKU still has a lot of work to do if it wants to bring its policies into line with its obligation to uphold the First Amendment rights of all students. FIRE has given NKU a red light rating for its speech codes--and last fall the student paper ran a piece explaining why.
Posted by acta online at February 2, 2007 11:28 AM
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