FIRE's Legal Network filed a sixty-three page complaint against Shippensburg University as part of the FIRE's Speech Code Litigation project on behalf of two unnamed students who wished to challenge its legality. At trial, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued a preliminary injunction ordering the President of Shippensburg to cease enforcement of certain aspects of its speech code. Four years later, many of the policies that the court struck down mysteriously made their way back into policy. The Alliance Defense Fund filed suit on behalf of several students at Shippensburg in May 2008, and the outcome is still pending, where it is expected that the court will issue another injunction compelling performance with the 2004 order.
Case Materials
"Federal Lawsuit Filed against Shippensburg University as School Blatantly Violates Settlement Repealing Unconstitutional Speech Codes," FIRE Press Release, May 7, 2008: A complaint filed in federal court today by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund alleges that Shippensburg University has dishonestly reinstituted unconstitutional policies in violation of the terms of a 2004 legal settlement reached with members of FIRE's Legal Network. The 2004 settlement came after the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued a preliminary injunction against the university, ordering Shippensburg's then-president, Anthony F. Ceddia, not to enforce unconstitutional provisions of Shippensburg's code.
"A Great Victory for Free Speech at Shippensburg," FIRE Press Release, February 24, 2004: FIRE and its Legal Network have won a historic victory for free speech on college and university campuses. Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, which had so vehemently defended extensive restrictions upon the free speech of its students, has agreed to repeal its unconstitutional speech code.
"Federal Court Orders Shippensburg University Not To Enforce ‘Unconstitutional’ Speech Code," FIRE Press Release, September 5, 2003: A federal court issued a preliminary injunction on September 4, 2003, ordering Shippensburg University President Anthony F. Ceddia not to enforce provisions of Shippensburg's speech code. The court also denied the university's motion to dismiss FIRE's case, allowing it to proceed to trial.
"Lawsuit Already Shakes Speech Codes at Shippensburg University," FIRE Press Release, August 22, 2003: As part of its current nationwide effort to free American public colleges and universities from unconstitutional restrictions on speech, FIRE and its Legal Network have challenged Shippensburg University's speech codes in federal court. Although a ruling has yet to be issued, Shippensburg University finds itself unable to defend in public what it wished to do in private and is already dismantling its policies.
"FIRE Declares War on Speech Codes," FIRE Press Release, April 23, 2003: Yesterday afternoon, attorneys from FIRE's Legal Network challenged the unconstitutional speech code at Shippensburg University, in Pennsylvania. This lawsuit is the first step in an unprecedented national campaign that will end—through legal action and through public exposure—the scandal of unconstitutional censorship at America's public college and university campuses and that will force private institutions to choose between liberty and tyranny.
"Victory for Free Speech at Shippensburg: After Violating Terms of 2004 Settlement, University Once Again Dismantles Unconstitutional Speech Code," William Creeley, October 24, 2008: In a victory for free speech on campus, yesterday Shippensburg University settled a federal lawsuit alleging that the university had violated the terms of a 2004 agreement wherein Shippensburg had agreed to rescind or reform its unconstitutional speech codes. The Alliance Defense Fund, which filed the complaint this past May, announced that Shippensburg has again agreed to honor the 2004 agreement. According to the ADF, which brought suit on behalf of a Christian student organization, the agreement was violated by the university's student government, which reinstituted several of the unconstitutional policies verbatim. The 2004 agreement, a victory for FIRE's first lawsuit filed as part of the Speech Code Litigation Project, was reached after a federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction against Shippensburg's speech code.
"When Speech Becomes a Crime," Cinnamon Stillwell, San Francisco Chronicle, June 28, 2006: It seems that putting forward a political or religious viewpoint on campus that is considered politically incorrect is now grounds for persecution and possible expulsion. Students have found themselves so beleaguered by what often appear to be politically motivated witch hunts that they have felt the need to turn to organizations such as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education for legal assistance.
"Speech codes make universities intolerant," Charles Mitchell, The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.), January 5, 2006: How much more data does one need? Arms of the state, including Surra's own alma mater, are enacting and enforcing clearly unconstitutional policies. In plain English, they're breaking the law, at taxpayer expense.
"Bad Frog Beer to 'intelligent design'," Amy Worden, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 17, 2005: His biggest case until now also was a First Amendment challenge. The student plaintiffs at Shippensburg University in 2003 argued that their rights were violated when the university stopped them from putting up anti-Osama bin Laden posters, saying they were banned under the university's speech code.
"Wronging student rights," Greg Lukianoff, The Boston Globe, September 3, 2005: As summer ends and college students return to campus, a number of dreadful court decisions may cause them to wonder if their rights have taken a permanent vacation.
"Liberating America’s Intellectual Gulags," Charles Mitchell, Campus Magazine, April 15, 2005: French, the new President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, graduated from Harvard Law School in the early 1990s. One might say that anyone with similar credentials ought to know the definition of intimidation – but French’s experience is a bit more personal than that.
"Beware of universities that wear diversity label," Walter Williams, Creators Syndicate, April 14, 2004: In far too many instances, what passes as college life and education today is no less than shameful. Under the name of diversity and political correctness, billions of taxpayer dollars and donor contributions are used to promote what might be charitably called enlightened racism, uniformity of thought and political proselytizing. Let's look at some of it.
"Campus rules overreach," USA Today, March 3, 2004: Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, several students at Shippensburg (Pa.) University put up posters in their dorms depicting Osama bin Laden in a rifle's crosshairs. But school officials ordered the posters removed. The students said they were told the signs might offend other dorm residents.
"The Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, and the Pasadena Star-News on FIRE," March 3, 2004: Universities still do not comprehend that their contempt for free speech places them far, far outside of the mainstream of American public opinion. In particular, they seem continually surprised that the media, who live or die by the Bill of Rights, understand freedom of expression full well. The March 1 lead editorial of The Philadelphia Inquirer, an editorial in today's USA Today, and yet another editorial in the Pasadena Star-News offer a compelling textbook education, if academic administrators are willing to listen, in the relationship of higher education and freedom of speech.
"Shippensburg University: Freedom of Speech 101," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 1, 2004: Since the beginning, America has struggled with the concept of free speech. It's a great idea in the abstract. But when reality hits - when free speech alarms, threatens and offends - the temptation is to rein it in. But then it's not free speech anymore.
"Confronting the campus radicals," Phyllis Schlafly, Copley News Service, January 7, 2004: David Horowitz thinks that anybody who cares about the future should confront the fact that U.S. colleges and universities are the fountainhead of financing for the radical movement in America. He has personally taken up the challenge to do something about this.
"Survey: many college students fuzzy on first amendment rights," Associated Press, Black Issues in Higher Education, January 1, 2004: PHILADELPHIA -- One out of four college students in a nationwide survey was unable to name any of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment, according to a free-speech watchdog group.
"War of Words," Beth McMurtrie, The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 23, 2003
"Speech Pathology," Carl Takei and Harvey Silverglate, The Boston Phoenix, May 23, 2003: FIRE codirector Harvey A. Silverglate and FIRE Program Officer Carl Takei write on campus speech codes and FIRE's speech code litigation strategy in The Boston Phoenix.
"Speech Pathology," Carl Takei and Harvey Silverglate, The Boston Phoenix, May 16, 2003
