Boston University's 'Daily Free Press' on BU's Speech Codes and Will's Campus Visit

As part of our Speakers Bureau program, FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley gave two speeches yesterday at Boston University (BU), one about social media to the Federalist Society and one about BU's speech codes and FIRE's work to Liberty at Boston University.

Following Will's talks, BU student newspaper The Daily Free Press has written an article drawing attention to Will's points about free speech at BU:

Creeley said that while BU outlaws verbal abuse, he wonders what BU means by "verbal abuse." Students know extremes of verbal abuse, he said, but may be unaware that some more nuanced examples, such as diatribes via email, are still considered verbal abuse.

"When a policy is vague, it causes people to choke on their own words because they don't know where the line is drawn with verbal abuse," Creeley said.

Unfortunately, many of the problems in BU's policies regarding speech are mirrored in countless other university policies and student handbooks. To read more about Will's speeches at BU and the other policies he addressed, read the rest of the article here.

If you would like to bring a FIRE speaker to your campus, head to our Speakers Bureau page here.