FIRE Spokesman: RIC's Speech Code Must Go
by Jim Brown
October 7, 2004
(AgapePress) - The Faculty Union at Rhode Island College has filed a grievance that challenges school rules banning "disrespectful and inappropriate" speech. The move follows RIC's decision to put Professor Lisa Church on trial for refusing to punish two students who allegedly made racist remarks. Even though the discrimination complaint against Church was eventually dropped, the college's Faculty Union remains concerned about future assaults on free speech.
Greg Lukianoff is with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a civil liberties group that has been advocating on Church's behalf. He believes RIC's speech code is unconstitutional and that college president John Nazarian ought to realize that he cannot lawfully punish speech simply because he deems it potentially hurtful, Lukianoff asserts.
In fact, the FIRE spokesman says, "The very idea that someone in charge of a large public college in a major state wouldn't know that, and would actually cite the code in order to justify the university's actions -- I mean, it's chilling."
Right now, with the current policy in place, Lukianoff says, "Rhode Island College has a code that violates the federal constitution. There is no way they can stand by it, and Nazarian should simply abolish that part of the code."
The free speech advocate continues, "There isn't room for debating whether or not government officials have the right to ban speech that they deem 'disrespectful' -- that isn't even close as a constitutional issue."
Still, it is encouraging, Lukianoff notes, that at least RIC's Faculty Union understands how speech codes not only violate the constitution but also keep faculty members from doing their job. However, he feels is important for more college faculty and administrators to realize that the very codes they use to stifle opinions they do not like can be used against them.
