Even a blind pig can find an acorn, and even PuffHo occasionally publishes something worth reading. In this case it’s Greg Lukianoff’s list of “The 10 worst colleges for free speech: 2016.” Lukianoff is head of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), an estimable group that tries to preserve freedom of expression on American campuses. While you might expect Yale would be on it, Lukianoff explains that the university supported the beleaguered Christakises (of the Halloween Costume Kerfuffle), even though both of them are either on sabbatical or have stopped teaching.
Here’s the list of the top ten malefactors, in no particular order. Do read the article, as it’s at once horrifying and amusing to see the kind of stuff that happened on these campuses.
Mount St. Mary’s University (Maryland)
Northwestern University (Chicago!)
Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge)
The University of California at San Diego
St. Mary’s University of Minnesota (Winona)
University of Oklahoma (Norman)
Marquette University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Colorado College (Colorado Springs)
University of Tulsa (Oklahoma)
Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut)
I’m familiar with a few of these cases, but not even half of them, which shows how pervasive and under-the-radar this kind of censorship is. Just to give you an example of how bad it is, here’s what Lukianoff wrote about the University of Tulsa:
While many colleges on this list earned their spot for punishing students for what they said, the University of Tulsa earned its place because it punished a studentfor what someone else said.
In September 2014, Tulsa student George “Trey” Barnett was notified by Senior Vice Provost Winona Tanaka that eight harsh interim measures, including his removal from classes and a theater production, had been imposed on him because his then-fiancé authored Facebook posts that criticized a Tulsa professor and other members of the Tulsa community. A month later, Tanaka found Barnett guilty of harassment and of retaliation for sharing information about the complaint with his fiancé, who provided Tanaka with a sworn affidavit acknowledging that he, not Barnett, was the author of the Facebook posts. Barnett’s punishment was severe — he was suspended until at least January 2016 and barred from receiving a degree in his major when he returned to classes. Barnett appealed the decision, and his appeal was summarily denied in January 2015.
However, Tulsa didn’t earn a spot on this year’s list just for its attack on one student’s fundamental rights; it also targeted Tulsa’s student newspaper, The Collegian, for covering Barnett’s suspension.
Last month, Barnett announced that he was fighting back. On January 13, he filed a lawsuit, alleging that Tulsa failed to provide him with “any meaningful due process” in finding him guilty of harassment and retaliation. Barnett’s lawsuit also claims that Tulsa subjected him to “substantial mental anguish” and violated its free speech promises. We’re hoping this lawsuit will ensure that Tulsa doesn’t end up on our “worst” list next year.
If anything will end these repeated violations of free speech by colleges, it’s the filing or threat of lawsuits. That brings both bad publicity to the colleges (after all, how many of you have heard of Barnett’s suspension?), and financial liability. In America, money talks.
h/t: Greg Mayer
On the one hand, the fear of lawsuits has resulted in actual contractions of our freedoms. Three examples: 1. It is increasingly difficult or impossible now to get a class of geology undergraduates into a quarry to look at the rock exposures. 2. The Pittsburgh Geological Association used to serve beers during their happy hour, but they stopped because of the concern that someone could go to a bar after the meeting, get drunk, kill someone on the way home, and the lawsuits could reach back to the PGS, where one beer only was consumed. 3. And lenders now require all sorts of things that were once no problem to be added to a property to minimize the risk of future lawsuits that somehow affect the mortgage. E.g., a well that is over 100 years old in a barn on my folk’s farm has to be filled in, even though it is capped with a very heavy concrete slab.
On the other hand, it is certainly true that the Catholic Church in America would still be protecting its pedophiles if it wasn’t for the huge lawsuit payouts that made the practice too expensive to be morally defensible.
“1. It is increasingly difficult or impossible now to get a class of geology undergraduates into a quarry to look at the rock exposures.”
Why is that? Who stops students looking at rock formations?
I will let Charlie answer for her/his self, but I had to hazard a guess, it would be the fear that a student might turn an ankle or something.
And as for the Catholic Church, I think it’s a bit too optimistic to say it isn’t still protecting pedophiles! They have gotten good at covering their assets, however.
Oh, I thought this was so because students might find out that Earth is more than 6000 years old.
> It is increasingly difficult or impossible now to get a class of geology undergraduates into a quarry to look at the rock exposures.
Jeez – for real? What’s next? No hammers on a field trip anymore, because you might hit your thumb?
I’m curious though: Is it the faculty or the quarry owners who’re afraid to get sued?
“I’m familiar with a few of these cases, but not even half of them, which shows how pervasive and under-the-radar this kind of censorship is.”
Yeah my first thought was that I didn’t recall any of these universities being involved in an incident I’d heard about, and these are worse than those I have?
I’m sorry, was this the University of Tulsa or the Gestapo of Tulsa.
It almost sounds like a Trump comment. He said it would be a good thing to go after the terrorist family and kids. Thinks he is in a Godfathers movie.
Frighteningly interesting re the range of The List here:
— over all of the nation’s geographical ( ie, somewhat ideological ) sectors
— higher educational institutions in both the public and private sectors
— both rural and urban settings for the institutions and these are only the ones listed presently.
So (as re “after all, how many of you have heard of Barnett’s suspension ?”) … … imagine all of the other higher education institutions who, in the past, did or may soon ‘qualify’ for said registry ?!
Brings to m’mind the academic shades of Darlin’ Waylon J’s W R O N G song, thus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR7i8PfWK68 .
Blue
I feel like I’m in some kind of parallel universe reading this and the article. If you make it to a tertiary institution as a student or teacher you should have at least average intelligence and critical thinking skills. How can punishing someone for their fiancée’s’s actions be considered justifiable, let alone justice?
A not-unrelated issue is US universities hiring adjuncts or lecturers, one semester or even one course at a time, sometimes year after year, with no benefits and no job security. Teaching a course at three different colleges is not unheard of. A bit of googling found the case below (I had heard of it earlier) as a comment at Inside Higher Education.
Frank P. Tomasulo, Ph.D. • 4 months ago
I was forced to resign from an adjunct position at CCNY because I used the term “hood” in class. This was supposedly perceived as a “micro-aggression” by 3-4 students in a class of 30. Even though I am white, I’ve worked in the “hood” – Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvestant, Crown Heights, and other areas in New York City– to assist minority communities, especially students. I’m proud to say that my name is carved on Rosa Parks’s Wall of Tolerance in Montgomery. If there was a list of politically incorrect words that included “hood,” I never would have used it. My adjunct union, PSC, failed me miserably and refused to mount a grievance on my behalf.
“I was forced to resign from an adjunct position at CCNY because I used the term “hood” in class. ”
“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood . . . I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you . . . .”
– “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”
A letter from a competent wrongful termination attorney to CCNY on your behalf might be money well spent.
I am not very familiar with Herbert Spencer or his views on sociobiology or his opinions, but I came across this quote that seems appropriate for these times: “The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.”
Lack of due process in the notorious “water buffalo” case at University of Pennsylvania is precisely what got FIRE started in the first place.
Looks like the two founders, Alan Kors (one of my favorite history profs at U Penn) and Harvey Silvergate are no longer involved.
SilvergLate- and he is still on the board of directors- mea culpa.