果冻传媒app官方

Table of Contents

Partial Victory for Free Speech at DePaul

果冻传媒app官方

CHICAGO, February 20, 2006鈥擠ePaul University has acquitted a conservative student group that was charged with harassment for holding an event that satirized affirmative action. Until the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (果冻传媒app官方) intervened, DePaul administrators had been investigating the DePaul Conservative Alliance (DCA) for holding an 鈥渁ffirmative action bake sale鈥 protest.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about time DePaul realized that dissenting opinions are not the same thing as harassment,鈥 stated FIREInterim President Greg Lukianoff. 鈥淔IREhas had to intervene in case after case of viewpoint discrimination at DePaul. The university鈥檚 record of repression is shameful.鈥

On January 17, the DCA held an 鈥渁ffirmative action bake sale鈥 protest in DePaul鈥檚 student center. FIREacross the country have held affirmative action bake sales to satirize what they see as injustice in affirmative action policies. In this case, the DCA advertised that African American and Hispanic students would be charged lower prices than white and Asian students for the same items. The primary goal of these 鈥渂ake sales鈥 is to spark debate, not to raise revenue.

After shutting the bake sale down, DePaul administrators charged the DCA with violating the Anti-Discriminatory Harassment Policy. FIREsent DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider a letter on January 23 but Holtschneider failed to respond. FIREbrought the case to public attention on January 30, resulting in an outpouring of criticism of DePaul鈥檚 actions. Then, on February 15, the DCA members were found not guilty of violating the harassment policy, but were found guilty of failing to disclose in advance that the bake sale would be used to protest affirmative action.

鈥淒ePaul was wise to take 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 words to heart in deciding to acquit the students of any harassment charges,鈥 stated Lukianoff. 鈥淚t is hard to believe that the remaining sanctions are a result of how the DCA registered the protest and not its controversial content. Furthermore, should students really be expected to register their political protests in advance? That is a truly stifling interpretation of 鈥榝ree鈥 speech.鈥

Last November, the DePaul College Republicans (CRs) were banned from posting flyers protesting a visit by University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill. DePaul not only prevented the students from voicing dissenting opinions but even surreptitiously altered its policies to prohibit the CRs鈥 actions, and then misled FIREabout having done so.

As a result of the controversy that has ensued since the bake sale, the DCA is planning an event to clarify the role of open debate and dissenting opinions on campus. The DCA is considering inviting as a speaker Thomas Klocek, the DePaul professor whom FIRE defended last spring after he was suspended without due process for engaging in a heated out-of-class argument with students.

鈥淒ePaul has a terrible habit of praising free speech with one side of its mouth and denying it with the other. This is getting truly tiresome,鈥 Lukianoff concluded. 鈥淔IREis relieved that the DCA was not found guilty of harassment, but we expect that this is not the end of the suppression of dissent at DePaul.鈥

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation鈥檚 colleges and universities. 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 efforts to preserve liberty at DePaul University can be viewed at thefire.org/depaul.

CONTACT:
Greg Lukianoff, Interim President, 果冻传媒app官方: 215-717-3473; greg_lukianoff@thefire.org
Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, President, DePaul University: 312-362-8000; dholtsch@depaul.edu

Recent Articles

FIRE鈥檚 award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed.

Share