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Speech Codes of the Year: 2005
An outrageous number of colleges and universities severely restrict their students鈥 expressive rights鈥攕o many that researching and analyzing these restrictions is my full-time job. As 2005 draws to a close, I would like to highlight just a few of the particularly outrageous (but, sadly, quite common) restrictions that I found in the course of my research this year. These institutions should be ashamed of themselves.
- provides students with a laundry list of behaviors that constitute sexual harassment, including 鈥渟exist jokes,鈥 鈥渃omments regarding a person鈥檚 attire,鈥 鈥渄isplaying or discussing materials pertaining to males or females in a demeaning manner,鈥 and 鈥減ropositions.鈥
- prohibits 鈥public profanity.鈥 Perhaps they are unaware that the U.S. Supreme Court .
- prohibits 鈥behavior that demonstrates intolerance鈥 to individuals based on gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, and religious beliefs or practices. Prohibited conduct at IUP includes 鈥渄emeaning jokes.鈥
- prohibits 鈥offensive language.鈥
- bans 鈥negative comments.鈥 I won鈥檛 comment on what I think of that policy; it might not be allowed.
Although these policies are so ridiculous they might make you laugh, they are serious business for students at these universities. Fortunately, many universities are unwilling to defend in public what they do in private, so exposing these speech codes to the public is an effective tool for change. For example, as FIREannounced in a press release today, Albertson College of Idaho revised its formerly repressive speech code after being featured as FIRE鈥檚 Speech Code of the Month in July 2005. As we begin a new year, FIREwill keep working hard to expose these unconscionable restrictions to public scrutiny. Happy New Year, and look for 2006鈥檚 first Speech Code of the Month next week!
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