Fairfield University: Harassment Charge and Funding Threat Against Student Newspaper
Cases
Case Overview
In September 2009, The Mirror, the independent student newspaper of Fairfield University, published a satirical column featuring sophomoric, crude 鈥渁dvice鈥 to male students about how to treat a woman following a sexual encounter. The response to the column on campus was immediate and overwhelmingly negative. Despite a response and explanation from The Mirror鈥檚 editor-in-chief, in which he announced changes to the column, the controversy continued unabated. On November 9, administrators requested the paper鈥檚 editors appear in a hearing before a student conduct board to answer charges of harassment brought by four offended students who claimed that they were 鈥減ersonally harassed鈥 by the column. FIREwrote to Fairfield, urging it to drop the harassment charges against the newspaper and its staff pursuant to the university鈥檚 commitment to free expression. Following 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 letter, the complaining parties agreed to mediation. Following the mediation session, the harassment charges were dropped and The Mirror promised to discontinue the column.