Giving Credit Where Credit’s Due

As we’ve pointed out repeatedly here on The Torch, erstwhile Le Moyne College student Scott McConnell has been restored to his rights, and Le Moyne certainly doesn’t deserve any credit for that. Far from it: Le Moyne has done everything in its power to keep McConnell out. Even now, it is appealing Wednesday’s court decision.

But there are at least two other organizations that deserve credit for standing up for liberty in this case. One obvious example is the Center for Individual Rights, which so ably represented McConnell in court. And another is the Collegiate Network, headed by FIRE Board of Advisors member T. Kenneth Cribb. As our CN friend Colin Sharkey reminded FIRE recently, “Scott’s experience won Le Moyne College the top prize in the Collegiate Network’s Campus Outrage Awards for 2005, popularly known as The Pollys.” And simply perusing FIRE’s page on this case will show why that mattered: Le Moyne’s Polly earned the college lots of well-deserved negative media attention.

FIRE thanks the CN for bringing so much attention to Le Moyne’s repression. Beyond that, we also encourage all friends of liberty to start thinking about other nefarious acts of censorship to nominate for next year’s Pollys.