Campus Judicial Group Passes Protective Free Speech Measure
by Jim Brown
April 5, 2004
(AgapePress) - The nation's largest professional association of campus judicial administrators has passed a significant resolution on campus free speech.The Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA) has overwhelmingly adopted a resolution designed both to protect free speech and to address the impact of "offensive" free speech. The resolution calls upon colleges and universities to uphold their legal and moral obligations to protect freedom of speech on campus.
The association, whose members administer student conduct standards at institutions of higher learning across the U.S., upholds the belief that enforcing standards of conduct on college campuses must involve protecting the rights of academic communities' citizens -- and that includes their rights as American citizens as defined by the U.S. Constitution. ASJA's own constitution states that such protection is essential in order for students to pursue their educational goals without "undue interference."
However, recognition that many educational institutions employ poorly defined or even illegal speech codes has indicated the need for more measures protecting free speech on campuses. The passage of the ASJA resolution is just such a measure.
ASJA president David Parrott believes schools should not be allowed to institute vague and excessive policies that limit student expression. He notes that rules that fail to define misbehavior or misconduct are not only too ambiguous but may also be unconstitutional.
"The protections afforded by the Constitution of the United States, particularly those contained in the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments, are essential rights of students at public institutions of higher education," Parrott says.
Furthermore, the association's leader insists that educational communities need to be able to express opinions, regardless of how hurtful those opinions may be to others. "The ASJA membership believe in the university as the marketplace of ideas and in the concept that we should provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas," he says.
Parrott explains the genesis of his group's free speech resolution as a result of "discussions about protected speech on college campuses, the case law generated by the courts, and the various perspectives represented in the American culture," which he says "cause us members of ASJA to constantly examine the practices in our field."
ASJA members believe the association should provide resources to protect free speech as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, Parrott says, and should also "provide resources to address the impact of offensive free speech and behavior on the university community and individual students."
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit foundation devoted to free speech and to individual, religious, and academic freedom, calls the ASJA's passage of the resolution "a major development in the struggle against speech codes on our nation's campuses."
