Colleges
warned about censorship
By
A. John Garcia
Daily
Lobo
ALBUQUERQUE,
N.M. (U-Wire) -- The U.S. Department of
Education issued a letter late last month
to universities across the nation reminding
them that campus speech regulations should
not infringe upon First Amendments rights.
The
letter, written by Gerald Reynolds, Office
of Civil Rights assistant secretary at the
University of New Mexico, outlines how universities
should act during on-campus protests or
any other time members of the university
community are expressing their freedom of
speech. It also clarifies and defines the
parameters of regulating harassment issues.
"Universities'
statutes regarding censorship should be
intended to protect students from insidious
discrimination, not to regulate the content
of free speech," Reynolds wrote in the letter.
"It should be recognized that the offensiveness
of a particular expression, standing alone,
is not a legally sufficient basis to establish
a hostile environment under the statutes
enforced by the Office of Civil Rights."
Colleges
maintain different speech policies, which
target protests, demonstrations and literature
on campus. Some are designed to protect
the rights of those who may be expressing
offensive speech, others are in support
of those who may be harassed by such ideas.
"The
University is committed to tolerate all
peaceful speech activities carried out upon
the campus unless those activities destroy
or materially damage property, materially
disrupt other legitimate University activities,
or create a substantial health or safety
hazard," according to UNM's Business Policies
and Procedures policy 2220, which addresses
free speech at the University. "This policy
applies to all buildings, grounds, and property
owned or controlled by the University.
UNM's
policy states that speech activities protected
by the policy include speechmaking, praying,
the distribution of written materials, picketing,
assembling in groups, demonstrating, sidewalk
chalking and erecting symbolic structures
on campus.
If
a person or group wants to stage an activity
or event at UNM, that person or group must
fill out an activity clearance form and
submit it to the Student Activities Center
in the SUB basement, said Susan Corban,
assistant director of the center. The center's
officials then decide whether the person
or group is allowed to demonstrate.
There
are also regulations for posting fliers
on campus, which can be obtained at the
center, Corban said.
Reynolds
said in the letter that for a university
to censor free speech on its campus, "it
must include something beyond the mere expression
of views, words, symbols or thought that
some person finds offensive."
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