CALDWELL, Idaho, December 29, 2005—After the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) publicly exposed its repressive speech code this summer, Albertson College of Idaho has dramatically changed its policies. Albertson’s FIRE-assisted embrace of liberty follows a similar turn of events earlier this year at Dartmouth College.

 

“Albertson’s decision proves once again the truth of Justice Brandeis’ maxim that ‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant,’” remarked FIRE Interim President Greg Lukianoff. “Once Albertson’s speech codes were brought to the public’s attention, the college acted quickly to revise them.”

 

In July, FIRE featured the harassment policy in Albertson’s Student Handbook as its “Speech Code of the Month.” The policy in effect at that time outlawed “[a]ny comments or conduct relating to a person’s race, gender, religion, disability, age or ethnic background that fail to respect the dignity and feelings of the individual.” Another policy went on to criminalize “behaviors considered inconsistent with the standards and expectations described in this handbook,” even those not “specifically covered in the misconduct definitions.”

 

As FIRE pointed out at the time, Albertson’s speech code was “wholly inconsistent with freedom.” While “students generally have a right to be free from certain types of severe harassment, they do not have a legal right to have their dignity and feelings respected,” as the policy then asserted. Furthermore, the second policy left students open to being “punished for behaviors they do not even know are prohibited.”

 

After FIRE selected Albertson as the “Speech Code of the Month,” local media lambasted its speech code. As one writer pointed out, Albertson’s status as a private college means it is legally allowed to have a repressive speech code, but such a thing is morally wrong and legally suspect for an institution that claims to “prepare one for a life of freedom.”

 

In a positive development for liberty on campus, Albertson officials quickly eliminated both of the provisions highlighted in the “Speech Code of the Month” article.

 

“Since its founding, Albertson College of Idaho has embraced the ideals of freedom of speech,” Albertson President Bob Hoover said. “In the course of a review of the student handbook, policies that could have restricted open discourse were revised to reflect those ideals.”

 

Albertson’s harassment policy now declares, “Albertson College is committed to supporting academic freedom and freedom of speech, in an environment of open and vigorous dialogue within the reasonable limits of the law.” In response to Albertson’s actions, FIRE has upgraded the college on its comprehensive online database of campus liberty, Spotlight: The Campus Freedom Resource, from its previous poor, “red light” rating.

 

“We are thrilled with how far Albertson’s policies have come in the last few months,” FIRE’s Lukianoff concluded. “Students at Albertson are now freer as a result of the college’s actions.”

 

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation’s colleges and universities. FIRE’s efforts to preserve liberty at Albertson College of Idaho can be viewed at thefire.org/albertson.

CONTACT:
Greg Lukianoff, Interim President, FIRE: 215-717-3473; greg_lukianoff@thefire.org
Robert Hoover, President, Albertson College of Idaho: 208-459-5502; rhoover@albertson.edu