The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Admissions Officer Throws Out School Paper Over Visitor Worries

With prospective students and their parents visiting campus, an Ohio Wesleyan University employee decided he didn't much care for a front-page story in the student newspaper. Flanked by a photo of a beer bottle, The Transcript story detailed "The 50-Day Club," a tradition in which seniors observe the days to graduation with two drinks a day at a Delaware bar. An admissions officer took copies of the paper from racks in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center and threw them in the trash before 220 visitors strolled through the building Sunday. The censorship incident left student editors upset and college administrators apologetic. Read more at:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/04/11/Transcript.ART_ART_04-11-09_B1_5VDH8HC.html

Organizer Of Campus Free Speech Movement Died May 12

Michael Rossman, an organizer of the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, who was later known for his books on politics, society and education, died May 12 at his home in Berkeley. He was 68. Mr. Rossman left graduate school in 1966 to devote himself to activism, lecturing on campuses around the country. The Free Speech Movement, which quickly spread to other universities, made political discourse a basic right on college campuses throughout the nation. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/education/19rossman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

A Glimpse Of A Small Campus Protest

What happens at college and university campuses is not always textual, but often is visual. Perhaps the video posted by this blogger says a good deal about the state of freedom of speech on America's campuses. See more at: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=28218_Video-_Protesting_Sean_Penn_at_SFSU&only

Group Opposes Closed Political Rallies On Campus

The Soapbox Alliance started by professors at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., says it is opposed to allowing politicians of any party to use colleges as a backdrop for their rallies. The alliance has sent letters to 600 other colleges and universities in the hope that they too will refuse to let their facilities be used for such events. Colleges have shown little enthusiasm for the idea. And political operatives question whether rallies should include people who don't support the candidate. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-11-19-soapbox_N.htm?csp=34

Recent Incidents Test Students' Free Speech Rights

A university tells Connecticut students when to publish, a racial cartoon raises questions about decency, and a teenager criticizes a school administrators' decision to stop a music festival on her Web log.Free speech has come under the microscope after three incidents at schools across Connecticut. Some see students' rights on a slippery slope, while others believe lessons can be learned to improve dialogue among different groups of people. Read more at:
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2007/10/30/news/294171.txt

Student Editor Will Get To Keep His Post

J. David McSwane, the editor who caused an uproar for allowing the F-word to run in Colorado State University's student newspaper, will keep his job, a student-run governing board ruled Thursday night. Instead of dismissing McSwane from his duties as editor-in-chief of The Rocky Mountain Collegian, CSU's Board of Student Communications decided to admonish him for publishing a profane editorial referring to President Bush. Read more at: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5715169,00.html

How Many Of These Controversial Speakers Do You Remember

In light of the recent controversial speech by the Iranian president at Columbia University, here is a list of some recent (back to 2004) similar situations at IHEs. This comes courtesy of the folks at U.S. News & World Report. How many do you remember? Read more at:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2007/10/01/a-history-of-controversial-campus-speakers.html

How Far Can The Student Newspaper Go In Use Of Language

On the campus of Colorado State University, opinion is divided over whether a terse editorial in the student newspaper that used a four-letter expletive in its headline was an exercise of free speech or immature judgment. This week, a school supervisory board will decide whether to fire the editor in chief, J. David McSwane, over the decision to publish the four-word message. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/business/media/01taser.html?_r=1&ei=5088&en=25af1dc602e53914&ex=1348891200&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1191326719-4FCqCRRgdqV3XOfRCkfx+Q

What To Do About Controversial Speakers

Controversial speakers have probably visited American campuses for as long as there have been campuses, and university officials faced with managing the situation have often reacted as Mr. Hutchins did, with a fervent defense of academia as a marketplace of ideas that must be kept unfettered. Yet beyond agreement over the need to protect free speech, there are still no accepted standards for how college presidents should handle such divisive debates. If anything, the issue has grown murkier. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/weekinreview/30glater.html?ex=1191816000&en=a822ce347d49a91b&ei=5070&emc=eta1

IHEs Explore Limits For On-Campus Evangelism

A new anti-proselytizing policy at Georgetown University has spurred debate about where the line is between vigorous faith-sharing and intolerance. In adopting the policy, the Jesuit school joined a growing number of colleges and universities trying to spell out what constitutes acceptable evangelism in an America that is increasingly religiously diverse and less comfortable with absolutes. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072002030.html?nav=rss_education