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Michigan State University: Student Government Official Threatened with Suspension for E-mailing Faculty about University Scheduling ConcernsCase Materials- "Letter to FIRE from Michigan State University Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Lee N. June," December 23, 2008
- "Open Letter to Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon," December 17, 2008
- "Letter to FIRE from MSU Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Lee N. June," December 16, 2008
- "Student Government Leader at Michigan State University Found Guilty of ‘Spamming’ after Criticizing Administrative Decision," FIRE Press Release, December 10, 2008: A Michigan State University student government leader has been found guilty of "spamming" and misuse of university resources after she criticized the administration's plan to change the school calendar. MSU junior Kara Spencer had carefully selected and e-mailed 391 of the school's faculty members, encouraging them to express their views about the changes. Spencer, who plans to appeal her unconstitutional punishment, has turned to FIRE for help.
- "E-mail to Kara Spencer from the Judicial Affairs Office," December 10, 2008
- "Episode 135: Michigan State University Student Faces Suspension for ‘Spam’ after E-Mailing Professors," December 8, 2008
- "E-Mail from Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon," December 8, 2008
- "Michigan State University Student Faces Suspension for ‘Spam’ after E-Mailing Professors," FIRE Press Release, December 4, 2008: A leader of Michigan State University's student government faces suspension for "spam" after she carefully selected and e-mailed about 8 percent of the school's faculty members encouraging them to express their views about changes to the freshman orientation and academic calendars. Student Kara Spencer, who faced a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday, has turned to FIRE for help.
- "FIRE Letter to Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon," November 26, 2008
- "Disciplinary Allegations Letter against Kara Spencer," September 17, 2008
- "E-mail from Randall Hall to Kara Spencer," September 16, 2008
- "E-mail from Kara Spencer to Selected Faculty," September 15, 2008
- "UCSA - ASMSU e-mails," September 11, 2008
- "MSU Committee on Academic Policy - Calendar Memo," September 4, 2008
Blog Entries- "MSU Incorrectly Defends Itself in Response to Civil Liberties Coalition in ‘Spam’ Case," Adam Kissel, January 8, 2009
- "Michigan State Again Misrepresents ‘Spam’ Policy in Response to FIRE," Adam Kissel, December 19, 2008
- "Greg in ‘The Huffington Post’ on Michigan State," Robert Shibley, December 19, 2008
- "Thirteen Civil Liberties Organizations Send Open Letter to MSU President about ‘Spammer’ Case," Adam Kissel, December 17, 2008: FIRE, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and eleven other civil liberties organizations have sent an open letter today to Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon in defense of MSU student government leader Kara Spencer. The signing organizations agree that MSU's anti-spam policy, which was used to punish Spencer for sending e-mails to 391 faculty members about pressing matters of university policy, is constitutionally suspect on its face, vague, allows the university unfettered discretion in requiring prior approval, and discriminates on the basis of content. These organizations also call the policy's use against Spencer "egregiously wrongheaded" and ask that President Simon immediately overturn the finding that Spencer is a spammer. UPDATE: We have added the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, which asked to join the open letter to MSU, to the list of signatories.
- "MSU Community Responds to ‘Spam’ Case Online," Brandon Stewart, December 15, 2008
- "The Skeletons in MSU’s Closet: Thought Reform at Michigan State," Greg Lukianoff, December 12, 2008
- "‘Graduate Admissions Guru’ Says Stay Away from MSU," Brandon Stewart, December 11, 2008
- "Michigan State University Joins ‘Worst of the Worst’ on FIRE’s Red Alert List," Azhar Majeed, December 11, 2008: Michigan State University (MSU) has been named to FIRE's Red Alert list after finding student government leader Kara Spencer guilty of "spamming" and misuse of university resources for criticizing the administration's plan to change the school calendar. Spencer had carefully selected and e-mailed 391 faculty members to encourage them to express their views on the proposed changes. Despite the fact that Spencer merely wished to alert a small percentage of the campus community —roughly 8 percent of MSU's faculty —to an important administrative decision, MSU found her to be in violation of the university's Network Acceptable Use Policy and of engaging in an "unauthorized" use of the MSU network.
- "Student Government Leader at Michigan State University Found Guilty of ‘Spamming’ after Criticizing Administrative Decision," Adam Kissel, December 10, 2008
- "MSU ‘Spam’ Case Hits Slashdot," Brandon Stewart, December 10, 2008
- "‘Content Neutral’ Does Not Mean ‘Constitutional’ (Except at MSU) ," Adam Kissel, December 9, 2008
- "Greg Discusses MSU ‘Spam’ Case on ‘Huffington Post’," William Creeley, December 8, 2008
- "MSU ‘Spammer’ Interviewed in Today’s Podcast," Erin Osovets, December 8, 2008
- "CNET Covers MSU ‘Spam’ Case," Adam Kissel, December 5, 2008
- "Michigan State University Student Faces Suspension for ‘Spam’ after E-Mailing Professors," Adam Kissel, December 4, 2008
Media Coverage- "Thirteen civil liberties organizations unite to fight Michigan State U on 'spam' conviction," Greg Lukianoff, The Huffington Post, December 19, 2008
- "ASMSU association director found guilty of misusing resources," Chris Vannini, The State News, December 12, 2008
- "Michigan State Student Receives Warning for Sending a Bulk E-Mail Message," David DeBolt, The Chronicle of Higher Education Blogs, December 11, 2008
- "E-mail lands student in hearing at MSU," Matthew Miller, Lansing State Journal, December 10, 2008
- "It's raining spam at Michigan State U," Greg Lukianoff, The Huffington Post, December 8, 2008
- "Michigan State to student leader: political e-mail is spam," Declan McCullagh, CNET.com, December 5, 2008
- "Michigan State University student faces suspension for e-mailing letter to professors," Jennifer Lawinski, FOXNews.com, December 5, 2008
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