State University of New York at Brockport: Speech Code Litigation

Case Materials

• "Another FIRE Victory Over Speech Codes: SUNY Brockport Settles Suit in Favor of Free Speech," FIRE Press Release, May 10, 2005: FIRE has won yet another remarkable victory over campus censorship and repression. Last week, SUNY Brockport settled a lawsuit brought by FIRE Legal Network attorneys and agreed to repeal its unconstitutional speech code. The settlement marks the fourth victory for FIRE’s Speech Codes Litigation Project and requires SUNY Brockport to modify several college policies to make them consistent with the First Amendment.  SUNY Brockport must also notify students of the changes on the Internet, in college offices, in college publications, and in the student newspaper.
• "FIRE Targets Another Unconstitutional Speech Code," FIRE Press Release, June 9, 2004: On June 3, attorneys from FIRE's Legal Network filed the fourth lawsuit in FIRE's ongoing campaign to rid public campuses across the nation of repressive and unconstitutional speech codes. Students Patricia Simpson and Robert Wojick are suing the State University of New York College at Brockport in federal court to overturn policies that violate their rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• "Legal Complaint Against State University of New York at Brockport, June 3, 2004," June 3, 2004

Media Coverage

• "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.
• "N.Y. College Settles Lawsuit with Students Who Challenged Campus Speech Codes," Rebecca McNulty, Student Press Law Center, June 22, 2005: Officials at SUNY Brockport College have settled a lawsuit over its regulations of speech on campus and have agreed to eliminate many of those restrictions and run notices in the college newspaper letting students know about the changes.
• "10 great cigars and why I smoked them," Mike Adams, Townhall.com, June 13, 2005: I smoked my first CAO Cameroon the week that the FIRE defeated speech codes at two American campuses on two consecutive days. Where do these guys get all their energy?
• "FIRE Chalks Up Another Victory for Students' Free-Speech Rights," Jim Brown, Agape Press, May 16, 2005: The State University of New York at Brockport has agreed to repeal its speech code. It is the fourth consecutive victory for a Philadelphia-based group in its campaign against such codes on America's public college and university campuses.
• "In a New York Minute," The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), May 12, 2005
• "College settles case, will revise its speech code," Matthew Daneman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 11, 2005: The settlement was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Buffalo after several months of negotiations between the state and the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE. The original lawsuit was filed in June 2004.
• "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.
• "Breaking the Silence," Minnie Quach, Guerrilla News Network, September 29, 2004: Editor's note: Last month, we ran an article entitled, "Backlash 101," by GNN contributor Joshua Holland, editor of USC's progressive paper, The Trojan Horse. Holland argued that heavily-funded conservative groups were taking advantage of an anti-political correctness backlash to make political gains among impressionable college students across the country.
• "SUNY's Thought-Police," New York Post, July 11, 2004: State University of New York Chancellor Robert King has a major scandal on his hands at upstate SUNY-Brockport: The campus thoughtcops have repealed the First Amendment.
• "How SUNY Brockport smothers free speech," Dan Hall, The Brockport Post, July 9, 2004: I doubt that any administrators or professors at SUNY Brockport are conspiring to do away with the First Amendment. But it is easy to believe that Brockport is run by some well-meaning people who have lost track of what freedom of speech really means.
• "Academic Freedom Advocates Sue Over SUNY Speech Code," Jim Brown, Agape Press, June 14, 2004: Two conservative students are suing the State University of New York (SUNY) at Brockport over its speech code, which they say is unconstitutional. The lawsuit is the fourth in a campaign by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to rid campuses of policies that violate students' First Amendment rights.
• "Free speech suit accuses college," Matthew Daneman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, June 10, 2004: BROCKPORT — Two SUNY Brockport students are suing to overturn campus speech codes they say quash their free-speech rights.The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Buffalo by students Patricia Simpson and Robert Wojick, alleges that the two are afraid to discuss controversial topics on campus because “they may be prosecuted and subject to sanctions” under the campus’ behavior regulations.
• "College GOP sues over speech code," World Net Daily, June 10, 2004
• "Two students sue state college over speech policy," Newsday.com, June 8, 2004