FIRE just received Marquette University’s response to our September 27 letter. Marquette said publicly that it sent us the letter on October 16, and the letter is indeed dated October 16, but the postmark is dated October 19, the day after FIRE’s press release on Marquette’s censorship of a Dave Barry quote. Curious indeed.

 

Even more curious is the explanation that Marquette President Robert Wild gives for censoring the quote. He writes, “the original difficulty arose out of a misunderstanding… [W]hen the quotation cited was posted, it was without attribution; therefore, someone reading the quotation may not have understood the humor/satire of Dave Barry.”

 

So, censorship is totally okay if the expression involved does not contain a footnote to a famous person? Got it. Thanks, Marquette.