The Torch
March 18, 2010
Tonight, FIRE will be awarded the Ford Hall Forum's Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award, an honor bestowed upon "individuals or organizations that demonstrate extraordinary commitment to promoting and facilitating the thoughtful exercise of our right to freedom of expression." Greg Lukianoff, President of FIRE; Harvey Silverglate, civil liberties lawyer and FIRE Co-founder; and Steven Pinker, bestselling author and FIRE Board of Advisors member, will join moderator Judge Nancy Gertner of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts to discuss FIRE's work and what freedom of speech means today. Previous First Amendment Award recipients include journalist Gwen Ifill, civil rights activist Rosa Parks, and CNN founder Ted Turner.
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Press Release
March 16, 2010
Late yesterday, in a striking victory for the First Amendment on campus, a federal district court in Texas ruled that a number of restrictions on students' speech at Tarrant County College (TCC) are unconstitutional. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means found that TCC's reliance on a policy prohibiting "disruptive activities" to restrict students Clayton Smith and John Schwertz from holding an "empty holster" protest violated the First Amendment. Smith and Schwertz had turned to FIRE for help.
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Press Release
March 11, 2010
In a victory for freedom of the press on campus, the student government of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) voted last night to end an ongoing moratorium on funding for student media. The vote restores funding for student media organizations and makes no changes to the current policy governing student media. FIRE has been working with student media to end the funding freeze.
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The Torch
March 4, 2010
Today, FIRE President Greg Lukianoff is pleased to announce his new book project. Greg's book will explore how today's college students are "unlearning liberty," and discuss what happens to our society when students are taught in a campus environment that is marred by speech codes and censorship. Greg's book will also cover FIRE's work on hundreds of cases involving student and faculty rights over the past decade. Read Greg's discussion of the book's premise and a preview of his central argument here. Read Full Article
The Torch
March 3, 2010
FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for March 2010: Murray State University in Kentucky. According to Murray State's Student Life Policies, conduct violations in the university's residence halls may be punished by "creative educational sanctions," such as "writ[ing] a letter of apology" and "mak[ing] signs or bulletin boards." These sanctions amount to compelled speech that violates Murray State's legal and moral obligations as a public institution to uphold its students' First Amendment right to freedom of conscience. Read Full Article
Press Release
February 23, 2010
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and its student government have violated the First Amendment by freezing funds for 33 student media organizations, dissolving the student-run television station, and threatening to punish students involved in a controversy over a party invitation for an event called the "Compton Cookout." Student government president Utsav Gupta has explained that his repressive actions were due to "fracturing of the student body on an issue" and "hateful speech." Further, under pressure from state legislators who seek to punish protected speech, UCSD has launched "aggressive investigations" into the party invitation. After many students came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help, FIRE has written two letters to UCSD defending the First Amendment both on and off campus. Read Full Article
