Report and Database from FIRE

As a followup to my last posting, see also the impressive Report and Database provided by FIRE. Here is a Dec. 6 press release that describes these resources. Here is a snippet from the press release:

The report’s findings include:

• Public colleges and universities are disregarding their constitutional obligations. More than 73% of public universities surveyed maintain unconstitutional speech codes, despite numerous federal court decisions striking down similar or identical policies.
• Most private colleges and universities promise free speech, but usually do not deliver. Unlike public universities, private universities are not legally bound by the First Amendment. However, most of them explicitly promise free speech rights to their students and faculty. For example, Boston University promises “the right to teach and to learn in an atmosphere of unfettered free inquiry and exposition.” Unfortunately, it also prohibits speech that would be constitutionally protected in society at large, such as “annoying” electronic communications and expressions of opinion that do not “show respect for the aesthetic, social, moral, and religious feelings of others.”

Overall, the report reveals that more than 68% of the colleges and universities surveyed maintain policies that “both clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech.” Overbroad and vague speech codes from the 2005-2006 academic year include:

• Macalester College bans “speech that makes use of inappropriate words or non-verbals.”
• Furman University bans any “offensive communication not in keeping with community standards.”
• At the University of Mississippi, “offensive language is not to be used” over the telephone.
• The University of North Carolina–Greensboro prohibits “disrespect for persons.”

I hope fire keeps up their good work! You can keep updated on their work through their RSS feeds... go to their homepage and scroll down a bit and see the RSS links on the right under "syndication".