The heat is on OSU from FIRE
By Jon Hartman
Think you have the right to say what you please in class, or anywhere, for that matter? One organization disagrees. FIRE, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is a self-described political action watchdog group that monitors colleges' and universities' ability to protect student rights. According to FIRE's website, thefire.org, the explicit mission of FIRE is "to defend and sustain individual rights at America's colleges and universities." Specifically, FIRE lists the rights to free speech, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience. FIRE rates individual schools by using a traffic light analogy. A "red light" means that, according to FIRE, the school has some sort of rule or regulation that directly conflicts with students' rights. There are also yellow, meaning a possible infringement on student rights, and green ratings, meaning that FIRE has no knowledge of any polices that infringe upon students' rights. The organization was started in 1998 by two attorneys, Alan Charles Kors and Harvey A. Silvergate. The two felt that students' rights were being curtailed in the name of double standards and overly sensitive speech codes.
Think Ohio State is in the green? Guess again — Ohio State has been given a rating of red. According to Samantha Harris, a FIRE spokeswoman, "Ohio State has several policies that clearly restrict speech protected by the First Amendment." Harris explains that there are three major policy areas in which, according to FIRE, student's rights are being violated, the most serious of which, Harris contends, can be found in the Student Housing Handbook. "The Office of University Housing's Diversity Statement contains a number of proscriptions that violate the First Amendment," Harris notes. FIRE most takes issue with Ohio State's statement that prohibits words that "threaten infliction of emotional or bodily harm." Harris maintains that these statements are overly broad. FIRE has taken issue with many of these types of statements found in Student Housing books all over the country. For instance, in one 2004 case, FIRE came to the aid of a male student who had been expelled from student housing at the University of New Hampshire for publishing and posting fliers that female students could keep off their "freshman fifteen" by taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
FIRE also attacks the University sexual harassment policy. FIRE claims that the University maintains a poster on sexual harassment, which, among other things, notes that inappropriate behavior includes sexual jokes, innuendo, and gestures, as well as the display of sexually suggestive material that all constitutes sexually inappropriate behavior. "…a blanket ban on these types of speech — which is what this poster creates — is unconstitutionally overbroad," Harris claims.
So the next time you hang your favorite calendar on the wall, perhaps you should think twice — you might reap some unwanted repercussions.
Originally Published: Issue 671 - October 1, 2008
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