FIRE is pleased to announce the publication of Defying the Constitution: The Rise, Persistence, and Prevalence of Campus Speech Codes in the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. Authored by FIRE’s Azhar Majeed, Associate Director of Legal and Public Advocacy, the article chronicles the existence of college and university speech codes nationwide and argues that maintaining them is untenable, given that every single court decision on speech codes has struck them down as unconstitutional. The article analyzes the First Amendment and free speech problems presented by speech codes, examines the harms that they perpetuate on the college campus, and responds to various arguments put forth by their proponents. It also offers potential ways to eradicate speech codes permanently from college campuses. FIRE expects the article to be an informative contribution to First Amendment scholarship, clarifying the state of the law on speech codes.
What Causes Campus Censorship and How to Combat it
When I say that censorship on campus has become more pervasive and intrusive and focused on increasingly trivial offenses, I don’t mean to suggest that campus speech was unrestricted in the past. Censorship is a perennial problem; the urge to restrict speech you fear or dislike seems almost primal – especially to people in power, on all points in the political spectrum. In recent years, the drive to repress individual rights on campus has generally emanated from the left, but sometimes it simply represents an apolitical, bureaucratic mind-set; and, historically, for every example of left wing repression, you can find a counter-example of right wing repression. Consider mid 20th century red scares, when colleges and universities grievously betrayed their stated commitments to academic freedom by imposing loyalty oaths on faculty and collaborating in purging suspected communists or communist sympathizers from their ranks. (For a history of that period, I recommend No Ivory Tower, by Ellen Schrecker.) We’ve also passed through periods when free speech and some would say anarchy practically flourished on campus.
The Misapplication of Peer Harassment Law on College and University Campuses and the Loss of Student Speech Rights
FIRE is pleased to announce the publication of Azhar Majeed’s law review article, The Misapplication of Peer Harassment Law on College and University Campuses and the Loss of Student Speech Rights, in the Journal of College and University Law. The journal is published by the University of Notre Dame Law School and the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). In the article, Azhar argues that many colleges and universities have misapplied hostile environment harassment law on their campuses, resulting in severe harm to student speech rights.
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment: Resolving the Federal Circuit Split Over College Students’ First Amendment Rights
FIRE is pleased to post a law review article by Kelly Sarabyn, FIRE’s Robert H. Jackson Legal Fellow, entitled The Twenty-Sixth Amendment: Resolving the Federal Circuit Split Over College Students’ First Amendment Rights. The article, previously published by The Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, offers a refutation to colleges who justify the censorship of student speech by claiming they possess the in loco parentis powers of grade schools. Given the current encroachments on university students’ free speech rights, remembering the historical understanding of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment provides a timely reminder that university students are overwhelmingly adults and should be treated as such.