Free Speech Advocate Wants R.I. Prof Cleared, P.C. Code Cut
by Jim Brown
September 16, 2004
(AgapePress) - Rhode Island College (RIC) says it has no further grounds on which to proceed with its trial of a professor charged with "hostile environment racism" for declining to punish two students who allegedly made politically incorrect remarks about minorities and welfare.The complaint against Professor Lisa Church was filed by a student-mother at the daycare center that the professor runs on campus. The woman demanded that Church discipline two other Rhode Island College students who allegedly expressed the opinion that certain minority groups' rights were valued over the rights of whites. (See earlier story)
After the instructor and daycare operator refused to punish the two individuals, the parent complained and Church was brought up on charges of discrimination and harassment. But after subjecting the professor to an initial hearing, Rhode Island College decided not to take any more action against her.
However, David French, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), is unsatisfied by the way RIC handled the case. Feeling the school wants to have its cake and eat it too, he says, "They want to exonerate Professor Church because they have to exonerate her. She did nothing wrong. She complied with the law in fact. But at the same time, I would imagine they don't want to be perceived as giving in to outside pressure."
Hence, French says, Rhode Island College issued a statement suggesting that, despite all evidence to the contrary, this is not a case about free speech, when that is exactly what it is. In fact, he considers the school's decision to drop the matter an important victory for First Amendment rights.
However, the FIRE spokesman feels the college wrongly put Church on trial for refusing to punish the constitutionally protected speech of others and that the administrators' handling of the matter needs to be more clearly and completely resolved. "First," he says, "we need to make sure that they do not undertake any further proceedings against Professor Church, and that her constitutional rights are protected fully."
Secondly, French asserts, the school needs to repeal its unconstitutional policies regarding speech on campus. "The only reason this thing got to a hearing," he says, "is that Rhode Island College has a speech code that would lead someone -- like the individual who complained against Professor Church -- to believe that such an action could be punished."
Despite what school officials may have stated, French insists the matter of the complaint against Church is and has always been a First Amendment issue. Moreover, he says constitutional freedoms "will never be secure on the campus" until Rhode Island College dumps its speech code.
