Rights in the News: FIRE’s Wright State Case Hits Front Pages

Nationwide reaction to the news of Wright State University's unconstitutional denial of recognition to the Campus Bible Fellowship, a Christian student organization, has been swift and furious, as readers who have been following The Torch throughout the week are well aware. Along with continued coverage in The Christian Post and an excellent article in WorldNetDaily, FIRE's efforts at Wright State were featured as a front page item at FOXNews.com, turning up the heat on an administration already on the wrong side of the law.

As Robert noted in a previous Torch entry, the Wright State administration was quick to backtrack and ensure the recognition of the Campus Bible Fellowship for the remainder of the school year, though the future status of the group is still in the air. Wright State's effort to spin the situation neither helps their case, nor fools FIRE. Our work at Wright State continues, and FIRE will update Torch readers as the situation progresses.

FOXNews.com's coverage of the Wright State affair wasn't FIRE's only trip to the site's front page this week: Robert was also featured in a FOXNews.com article covering a recent controversy at Central Connecticut State University, in which a professor reported a student to the police following his class presentation advocating for concealed-carry rights on campus. Robert offers comment as well for The Examiner Seattle, and was heard by Hartford-area residents as a guest on the Dan Lovallo Show.

Those who have read Adam's dispatches from his tour of several University of Wisconsin (UW) System schools know that a potential reckoning is at hand for UW students' due process rights, as the UW Regents weigh proposed changes to the Wisconsin Administrative Code's regulations on non-academic disciplinary procedures. Fortunately, as Adam wrote, the proposed changes are meeting heated opposition from students and faculty throughout the UW system. The student press has risen to the task of raising awareness of the threat to due process at UW, and Taylor Cox of The Badger Herald, along with Todd Stevens and Sung Won Park of The Daily Cardinal  (both student newspapers at UW-Madison), have noted FIRE's role in helping to galvanize opposition to the proposed changes within the UW community.