The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has released its annual list of colleges and universities that don’t uphold free speech for their students.
In an article for the Huffington Post, FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff provided specific details as to how each school ended up on the list.
Mount St. Mary’s University, for example, made the list due to the firing of two employees who were critical of the university president’s plan to use a student survey to identify potentially low-performing students to dismiss from the school. After a backlash, the president reinstated the employees, but that has done little to assuage fears of retribution for dissension.
Northwestern University also makes the list for opening up a Title IX investigation against professor Laura Kipnis because she had written an article disagreeing with how universities are handling campus sexual assault. Kipnis was eventually cleared of wrongdoing, but not before witnessing firsthand how the process is used as a weapon. One of the kickers to this story is that in these Title IX investigations, the accused is allowed to bring a “support person” to accompany them during the proceedings, although this person is not allowed to speak. The “support person” who sat in with Kipnis was then accused of violating Title IX because he spoke generally about the process during a Senate meeting.
So not only was Kipnis accused of violating Title IX and creating a “hostile environment” on campus because she disagrees with how the university handles accusations, but the man who sat with her during the process was accused for also speaking out about the process. There was a “hostile environment” created a Northwestern, but it wasn’t for sexual assault accusers, it was for dissenters.
Also on the list was Louisiana State University, for firing a professor for some reason. Seriously, she wasn’t informed of the specific accusations against her. She had never been accused of sexual harassment, yet was told she had violated the school’s sexual harassment policy. Part of the reason she was fired was her alleged use of profanity — in a classroom full of adult students.
The professor, Teresa Buchanan, had created a sought-after early childhood education teacher training curriculum and had brought in millions of dollars in grant money, yet she was fired for teaching these alleged adults in an adult manner. Buchanan is currently suing the university, alleging that the school violated her first amendment and due process rights.
Perhaps the most egregious example on the list comes from the University of Tulsa, where a student was suspended over something his then-fiancee wrote on Facebook. That’s right, a student was suspended for something someone else wrote. The suspended student is, naturally, suing the university.
“This past year, free speech on campus took center stage and became international news,” Lukianoff wrote. “For those of us who have worked for years on the frontlines, the threat to free speech on campus isn’t a new story. Too often students find their voices silenced, and increasingly their professors are finding themselves in the same boat. If this year’s ‘worst’ list proves anything, it’s that even tenured faculty members aren’t safe from the censor’s muzzle.”
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
