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Suing the hand that educates you
Former FIRE president and current director of the Alliance Defense Fund's Center for Academic Freedom David French notes the brazenness with which many college and university administrators flout the law when it comes to honoring their obligations to the First Amendment--and observes, too, that in a climate characterized by such brazenness, it is often the student who must hold the school legally accountable:
Samantha Harris has an amusing post in FIRE's blog noting the on-campus reaction at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, to the school's "red" rating in FIRE's speech code database. Apparently, in response to questions about the rating, Steve Tallant, the school's interim chancellor and provost said, "They say our policies are unconstitutional. If (the policies) were unconstitutional, they would be in court right now."Is that a challenge, Dr. Tallant? Are you asking to be sued?
Actually, Dr. Tallant betrays a common attitude among administrators. Despite an avalanche of judicial precedent, they will sit back and maintain unconstitutional policies until a student has the courage to step up and sue their own school. Take Pennsylvania, for example, where two of the state's largest universities--Penn State and Temple--maintained speech codes that were indistinguishable from codes struck down by the Third Circuit. Yet change did not occur until they were both sued by their own students. Penn State changed its policies soon after the suit was filed. Temple changed its policies late last month. In response to still another lawsuit, Georgia Tech was forced to change its speech code and is not permitted to change its speech policies without prior judicial approval.
But that is just a beginning. As FIRE's database makes clear, there are hundreds of universities that continue to maintain unconstitutional policies. But I can promise you this, Dr. Tallant, if protecting the First Amendment means filing a lawsuit at each and every one of the hundreds of schools that are openly and intentionally defying the law, we will do it.
And your turn will come.
French notes that fear keeps more students from going this route, and offers the example of two students who are suing Georgia Tech to show how that fear is well grounded indeed. In exchange for fighting for the free speech rights of all Georgia Tech students, Ruth Malhotra has become the target of physical threats. French reprints the most recent one, in which an anonymous letter-writer promises to rape her on Valentine's Day.
French will doubtless follow through with his threat. Here's hoping Malhotra's stalker does not.
Posted by acta online at February 16, 2007 09:46 AM
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