'Chronicle of Higher Education' and 'Las Vegas Review-Journal' on Syracuse Case

In the "Wired Campus" section of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marc Parry writes about FIRE's case at Syracuse University College of Law:

SUCOLitis aspires to be something like The Onion of law-school life. The Syracuse, N.Y., satirical news blog has attracted thousands of views with fake headlines about beer pong, third-year students serving burritos, and the election of the university's "sexiest Semite." It delights in attributing fake quotes to students and faculty, as well as to famous alumni like Vice President Joe Biden, who is quoted as calling SUCOLitis "even funnier than me."

Syracuse University officials aren't laughing.

The law school has threatened "harassment" charges against a student who is allegedly a writer for the anonymous blog, according to a press release put out today [Tuesday] by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an advocacy group known for its efforts to stop campus officials from restricting the free-speech rights of students and faculty members.

Click here for the whole piece.

In today's Las Vegas Review-Journal, Thomas Mitchell also writes about the case:

The textbook at Syracuse University College of Law must be Kafka's "The Trial."

According to information posted on the website of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, yes, the acronym is FIRE, Syracuse law student Len Audaer has spent two months under the threat of harassment charges, supposedly related to content on a satirical WordPress blog called SUCOLitis, yes, your colitis in Spanish.

The rub is: The university refuses to tell him who is his accuser or what he may have written that might constitute harassment. Now, says FIRE, the university is demanding he agree to a gag order on himself, his attorney and any news media that might get wind of the case.

The SUCOLitis site, which is described as a law school-centric take off on the popular satirical website "The Onion," is now closed to the public and accessible only with a password. The site included the disclaimer: "No actual news stories appear on the site."

Click here for the whole piece.