Keeping a watchful eye
Civil liberties group cries foul on Northeastern's policies
Derek Hawkins
Issue date: 6/6/07 Section: News
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a non-profit organization that advocates for civil liberties in academia, recently placed Northeastern on its watch list and has argued that several of Northeastern's policies restrict free speech on campus.
In an op-ed published May 21 in the New York Post, FIRE berated the university for enforcing campus speech codes that it said limit free expression otherwise protected by the First Amendment.
FIRE's op-ed, authored by the organization, called the university "the self-appointed arbiter of good taste" and cited a section of the Northeastern's Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) that prohibits the use of university facilities to transmit material "which in the sole judgment of the university is offensive."
"Attention Northeastern students," the op-ed read. "Before you forward that e-mail to your friends you had better try to discern whether 'the university' might deem it offensive."
The AUP is a public document that contains rules and guidelines for using university information systems and is updated annually by the Information Services department.
In addition to prohibiting the exchange of "offensive, violent, pornographic, annoying or harassing" material, the policy also asserts the university's right to monitor electronic communications, including e-mails, that take place within university information systems.
Samantha Harris, FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy, said the vagueness of the portion of the AUP mentioned in the op-ed jeopardizes free speech on campus.
"'Offensive' is a very broad, general term, so it will be very difficult for students to guess at what the university might find offensive," Harris said in an e-mail. "College is supposed to be a 'marketplace of ideas,' and by threatening to punish students for saying anything 'offensive' over e-mail, Northeastern is 'chilling' the free speech of its students and suppressing the free exchange of ideas."
In an op-ed published May 21 in the New York Post, FIRE berated the university for enforcing campus speech codes that it said limit free expression otherwise protected by the First Amendment.
FIRE's op-ed, authored by the organization, called the university "the self-appointed arbiter of good taste" and cited a section of the Northeastern's Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) that prohibits the use of university facilities to transmit material "which in the sole judgment of the university is offensive."
"Attention Northeastern students," the op-ed read. "Before you forward that e-mail to your friends you had better try to discern whether 'the university' might deem it offensive."
The AUP is a public document that contains rules and guidelines for using university information systems and is updated annually by the Information Services department.
In addition to prohibiting the exchange of "offensive, violent, pornographic, annoying or harassing" material, the policy also asserts the university's right to monitor electronic communications, including e-mails, that take place within university information systems.
Samantha Harris, FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy, said the vagueness of the portion of the AUP mentioned in the op-ed jeopardizes free speech on campus.
"'Offensive' is a very broad, general term, so it will be very difficult for students to guess at what the university might find offensive," Harris said in an e-mail. "College is supposed to be a 'marketplace of ideas,' and by threatening to punish students for saying anything 'offensive' over e-mail, Northeastern is 'chilling' the free speech of its students and suppressing the free exchange of ideas."
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