{"id":2450,"date":"2017-10-04T19:33:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T23:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoodcomstudies.com\/theblueandgrey\/?p=2450"},"modified":"2017-10-04T19:33:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T23:33:58","slug":"free-speech-at-hood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/04\/free-speech-at-hood\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Speech at Hood"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kashif Masood<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On campuses nationwide,\u00a0incidents\u00a0have\u00a0ignited a debate about free speech and inclusion on campus. Calls for\u00a0discipline\u00a0have\u00a0raised concerns about the state of free speech on campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an email response to a speech code request, the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) noted: \u201cAlthough Hood is a private college and thus not legally bound by the First Amendment, it makes institutional promises that bind it morally and perhaps even contractually to protect free speech. Students reading these promises would reasonably expect that Hood will provide them with free speech rights commensurate with those of their peers at public institutions.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Policy 55 states that \u201cHood College is committed to the principles of free inquiry and free expression. The College’s policy against discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct, and retaliation is not intended to stifle this freedom, nor will it be permitted to do so.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But FIRE is not satisfied. They criticize the Bullying and Harassment clauses for \u201cmak[ing] punishable any mere \u2018attempt to demean \u2026 or abuse another individual,\u2019 which includes a great deal of speech that is protected under First Amendment standards…so a person\u2019s subjective feeling about what expression is demeaning or abusive is enough to meet the standard.\u201d FIRE also criticized the Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct clauses for \u201cmak[ing] punishable any conduct which creates \u2018a hostile or offensive environment\u2019\u201d without using an objective, reasonable person standard. FIRE recommended that these clauses be\u00a0revised\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to match the\u00a0Davis vs. Monroe\u00a0<\/i>(a May 24, 1999 Supreme Court case) harassment definition (\u201cso severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so undermines and detracts from the victims\u2019 educational experience, that the victim-students are effectively denied equal access to an institution\u2019s resources and opportunities.\u201d)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion, Travis Eichelberger, was asked if such a revision would affect enforcement of Policy 55, he confidently expressed that \u201cPolicy 55 was revised in 2015, so the Board [of Trustees] must have been aware of that court case.\u201d When asked what would be considered offensive, he said that they \u201cfocus on the perception of not feeling safe, targeted, not being supported.\u00a0Also\u00a0we look at intent.\u201d When asked about Hood\u2019s commitment to free speech, Eichelberger stressed that Hood is interested in dialogue, not censorship. He mentioned how several years ago, Newt Gingrich was allowed to speak on campus. Those protesting his appearance were allowed to do so peacefully.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Director of Residence Life and Student Conduct, Matt Troutman, shares Eichelberger\u2019s sentiment on dialogue instead of censorship. In an email response to an interview request, Troutman said,\u00a0\u201c It\u00a0is vital that Resident Assistants are affirming and welcoming to all students… I encourage RAs to bring their students to campus activities including events which promote diversity in thought, ethnicity, gender, etc…There\u00a0are opportunities for RAs [Resident Assistants]] to notice when students are saying words or inappropriate jokes, or similar types of things which others would find offensive; these are teachable moments for students to learn\u00a0 when the RA or their supervisor or another campus resource discusses the matter with them. Incidents which are larger in nature are sometimes handled in the judicial system (by\u00a0 my\u00a0office).\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kashif Masood\u00a0 On campuses nationwide,\u00a0incidents\u00a0have\u00a0ignited a debate about free speech and inclusion on campus. Calls for\u00a0discipline\u00a0have\u00a0raised concerns about the state of free speech on campus.\u00a0 In an email response to a speech code request, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2451,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions\/2451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}