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Latest News - Free Speech and Academic Rights
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Porn Show Gets the Axe at UI
Under pressure from school administration, students in charge of the Bijou Theater—located on the University of Iowa's campus—decided not to show a 3-D pornographic film this weekend.
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Controversy Continues over Pacifica Forum at the U of O
Over 100 University of Oregon students attended the Senate meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) on Jan. 27, when ASUO considered a resolution to urge a conservative community group to stop meeting on campus.
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Maryland Regents Affirm Free Speech
Last Wednesday, the University of Maryland’s Board of Regents followed the Chancellor William E. Kirwan’s recommendation to not create a policy regulating the screening of obscene films on campus.
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Former Terrorist Denied Permission to Travel for UMass Talk
After much back and forth, former leader of the United Freedom Front Ray Luc Levasseur was finally barred from giving a scheduled talk at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst when he was denied permission to travel by the U.S. Parole Board.
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David Horowitz Sparks Controversy at USC
An event at the University of Southern California featuring guest speaker and conservative activist David Horowitz prompted a walkout and multiple student protests on Nov. 4.
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College Sophomore Lobbies for Student Press Rights
Western Kentucky University student Josh Moore is working to pass a statewide bill, House Bill 43, to protect high school journalists First Amendment rights, even where their publications are produced with school funding or facilities.
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International Student Coalition for Open Access
The Right to Research Coalition, a group of students, academics, and librarians advocating for the adoption of Open Access policies at universities, recently welcomed eight new organizations and now represents over 5 million students.
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Oregon State Students Claim Free Speech Violation
A lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on behalf of Oregon State University students claims the University violated students’ First Amendment rights by confiscating seven distribution bins for the independent student newspaper, “The Liberty.”
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Arizona Students Chalk for Free Speech
Amidst widespread student support at the University of Arizona, students Jacob Miller and Evan Lisull will now avoid jail time after being arrested for drawing protest signs in chalk on campus.
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Students Push for Open Access to Research
The high price and restrictive publishing policies of scholarly journals—where most academic research is currently published—have led a coalition of student advocacy groups to cry foul.
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ACLU takes issue with new hate speech policy at UNLV
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is reconsidering a new campus policy on hate crimes and ‘bias incidents’ after objections arose from the ACLU and the Chancellor of Nevada's public higher education system.
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NCAA taking on Facebook groups
The NCAA is taking a hard line on university representatives tampering with top recruits--even when the representatives are ordinary students and their form of tampering is to create a Facebook group.
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Let the Freedom (of Speech) Ring
Some college campuses, after years of restricting free-speech on campus, are starting to relax their policies, although only slightly.
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Sex Column Causes Conflict at the University of Montana
The University of Montana Kaimin's "Bess Sex Column" is causing a stir on campus after a law professor’s attempts to get the university to cease its publication. UM law professor Kristin Juras wants the Kaimin, a student newspaper, to stop printing the column, written by student Bess Davis, and has threatened to take the issue to state higher education officials.
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Israeli-Palestinian Issue Causes Fierce Political Fight at Columbia
The official conflict between Israel and Gaza has ceased in the Middle East, but Israel-Palestine is still a hot button issue on campuses nationwide. An informal cross campus coalition sprung up as students from Columbia University in NYC consulted with Hampshire College and Rochester University student activists on strategies to force Columbia to divest from Israeli companies.
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NYU Students Suspended for Lock In
Last Wednesday at 8pm at New York University approximately 80 students in the group Take Back NYU barricaded themselves inside NYU’s Kimmel Hall dining facility touting a thirteen-point list of demands.
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Student Sues Over Alleged Discrimination
Student Jonathan Lopez is suing the Los Angeles City Community College system for religious discrimination after his public speaking professor, John Matteson, purportedly stopped his speech against gay marriage.
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Discussion with Israeli Consul Gets Unruly
Akiva Tor, an Israeli consul for the Pacific Northwest region, spoke at San Jose State University last week in what became "more a madhouse than a discussion," according to the SJSU Spartan Daily. Members of the audience heckled Tor as he spoke, shouting “liar!” and interrupting him with larges chants of “what about the blockade?”
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Student Journalists Scolded for Recording Public Meeting
When student journalist Benjamin Guhin attempted to record a Student Life Council Meeting at Fordham University, he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. But the rules governing student journalists are not always clear, and Fordham Dean of Students Christopher Rodgers believed wrong was precisely what Guhin was doing.
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Target: Tobacco
Citywide bans on smoking in restaurants and bars have been implemented in various metropolises coast to coast, big and small, from Chicago, IL to Manhattan, KS. Last Thursday, the Boston Public Health Commission took the tobacco fight a step further and passed the Tobacco Regulation Amendment.
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Free Speech Tunnel Draws Hate Speech Traffic
Last Tuesday’s historic election prompted strong emotional reactions across the nation – both positive and negative. On Wednesday students reported finding offensive racial slurs in an area of campus called the “Free Speech Tunnel”.
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Prop 8 Sparks Discussion and Protests
Last week California, Arizona and Florida all passed ballot measures banning gay marriage. The vote is especially controversial in California where gay marriage had previously been legalized.
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Graduate Student at CSUN Released from Iranian Prison
Esha Momeni, a 28 year old graduate student at California State University Northridge, was arrested October 15 in Tehran. As part of her master's degree thesis documenting the women's movement in Iran through the use of different media such as photography and film, she had been filming interviews of volunteers with the One Million Signatures Campaign.
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Dr. Feelgood, Coming to a Campus Near You
With California, Washington, and Oregon, among other states, voting to legalize the use of medicinal marijuana, it was only a matter of time before schools had to deal with the repercussions.
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Internships as Important as Ever
With the financial crisis affecting the economy, many have predicted a smaller job market for graduating seniors. Not so, according to Jason Eckert, Director of Career Services at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
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Free Speech is Dead
Professor Kerry Laird was asked to remove a quote from the door of his office at Temple College this past week. The infamous quote was that of renowned German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “God is dead” is from The Gay Science.
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Montclair State Prints Controversial Cartoon
Editors of the newspaper at Montclair State University in New Jersey apologized last week for running a cartoon with a partially obstructed racial slur in reference to Senator Barack Obama.
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Cornell Coalition for Life
The Cornell Coalition for Life, a nonpartisan pro-life advocacy group at Cornell University, had a recent run-in with the College of Engineering administration over a pro-life display on campus.
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FIRE Promotes Policy on Political Free Speech
In response to a number of complaints this election in which students’ political free speech was curbed by campus administrations – including incidents at the Universities of Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas – the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has released a formal policy on the subject.
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Concealed Weapons on Campus
At the end of September, a student group at the University of Kansas calling themselves the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus held a meeting to discuss the issue of carrying concealed weapons on campus.
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Retiring Dean Speaks Freely On Sexual Assault Cover Up
In a candid interview with the Daily Orange, Syracuse University Dean David Potter alleges that he and other administrators were phased out of employment due to their involvement in an on-campus rape case. The case implicates three Syracuse Division I basketball players.
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Female Coaches Take Action
Female coaches at Texas Southern University and California State schools at San Diego and Fresno have all filed lawsuits involving gender discrimination.
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Report Reveals Alarming Results
According to the American Council of Education, for the first time since World War II, adults are not more highly educated than the previous generation.
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Web Site Allows Free Access to Old Exams
Demir Oral, Saint Louis University alum and creator of PostYourTest.com, created the Web site in the hopes of providing a new and more comprehensive way for students to study.
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U of I Bans Political Expression…PSYCH!
A few weeks ago NSNS reported on the University of Illinois prohibiting its faculty, staff and graduate students from participating in political rallies on campus or demonstrating any political preference including wearing buttons or sporting bumper stickers on their cars. Well there's more.
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Students Speak Up to Fight Discrimination
Last fall, students at Brandeis University complained about Professor Donald Hindley, who was said to have made racially discriminatory comments. Now the administration has brought in a lawyer, Drayl Lapp, to address the faculty.
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Political Preference Prohibited
The ethics office at the University of Illinois recently sent a notice to all faculty and staff informing them that they are forbidden from showing any signs of political preference on campus. Wearing buttons supporting a candidate, sporting a bumper sticker on a car, or attending a political rally on campus were explicitly labeled off limits
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Dry Campus Implements Saliva Test
North Idaho College, a dry school, has recently implemented a new system for ensuring that students do not drink in the campus dorm: AlcoScreen Alcohol Saliva Testing.
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Condoms on Campus
After complaints from students, parents and faculty, 15,000 coupons for O!zone, a condom shop near Boise State University, were removed from a coupon booklet being handed out to students at the campus bookstore.
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Free Speech Rally at UMASS
The Radical Student Union at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst recently held a rally for free speech on the steps of the Student Union.
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Controversial Commencements
Graduation season is upon us, and colleges and universities across the country have solidified commencement speakers to send off a new generation of graduates with wise and inspirational words. Some students and faculty, however, aren’t happy with their universities' choice.
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Arizona Rep. Proposes Bill Amendment to “Protect” Western Values
Arizona state representative Russell Pearce has proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 1108, originally intended to implement minor changes to Arizona’s Homeland Security advisory councils, that seeks to ban Arizona public schools from using taxpayers’ money to teach subjects considered contradictory to Western civilization or democracy.
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MIT Student Subpoenaed Over Text Messaging Tool
New York City recently subpoenaed MIT doctoral student Edward Hirsch to gain access to text messages sent through TxTMob, a system Hirsch developed to help activists communicate via text messaging. The system, created for protesters at the 2004 Republican Convention in New York, was designed specifically to guard their digital communications from law enforcement.
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FIRE Targets Speech Codes at Tulane
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a first amendment advocacy group, has asked Tulane University President Scott Cowen to clarify the university's policy on free expression.
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Interview with CU Editorialist Max Karson
An NYU student reporter sat down with Max Karson, the writer of the recent controversial editorial “If It’s War Asians Want…” published in the Campus Press at CU Boulder. Does Max in fact hate Asians? Hear from Max in his own words.
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Correct Effects
The University of California Los Angeles Bruin Republicans are bringing in speakers and screening a movie on campus for Political Correctness Week.
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Masked Tree Huggers
Two masked people, one identified as a University of California, Berkeley alumnus, protested last week from a tree outside a university building.
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Free Speech at Colorado
The University of Colorado’s Student Union is condemning two opinion articles recently published by the Campus Press that were interpreted as racist toward Hispanic and Asian communities.
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Anti-abortion Display Incites Protest
In cooperation with the Florida State University Campus Renewal Ministries, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a national nonprofit organization, put up a display called The Genocide Awareness Project on the Florida State campus.
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UC San Diego’s Free-Speech Policy to be Written by Students
Following strong opposition and allegations of unconstitutionality, the University of California San Diego’s controversial draft of a free-speech policy has been thrown out and the University has decided to opt for a new student-crafted version.
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STUDENT NEWSPAPER FIGHTS FOR INDEPENDENCE
In response to a recent motion by Georgetown’s largest student newspaper, The Hoya, to achieve financial and editorial independence, the university has applied to trademark the Hoya’s masthead, preventing the paper from using the Hoya name.
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Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week
Last week, students across the country hosted “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” as well as, on many campuses, counter programming and protests.
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Student Council requests removal of speech code
In their ongoing effort to clarify free speech rules on campus, the Johns Hopkins Student Council passed a resolution asking the administration to remove the university’s “civility policy.”
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How free is speech on campus?
In the wake of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia, many campuses are grappling with how unpopular speakers and ideas are handled on their campus.
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Mr. Ahmadinajad goes to Columbia
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech Columbia University sparked protests and University President Bollinger’s combative introduction drew both praise and criticism.
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Don’t Tase Me, Bro!
Campus police at University of Florida tasered a student attempting to ask a question to Senator John Kerry on Monday. The incident has sparked protests on campus, national news attention, and raised questions of free speech and the use of force on campus.
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Taser this…
In perhaps the most interesting response the Florida taser incident, the editorial board of Colorado State University’s Rocky Mountain Collegian published an editorial Friday morning under the headline “Taser this” and the text “F—K BUSH.”
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Controversy at Northeastern
At Northeastern University, an article and accompanying editorial published in the school’s conservative paper about an academic assistance program for disadvantaged students has stirred up controversy, as some disagree with the portrayal of the program and the students it helps.
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Race Debate Increases
A fake advertisement featuring a stereotypically dressed African American man in a campus humor magazine at Brandeis University has sparked debate between students. Students attending a diversity conference at Ohio State University discussed themed parties at the school.
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To Flyer or Not to Flyer
A free speech controversy is brewing at MIT, where an unclear policy is the center of a flyering debate.
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URI Standoff Over
In what appears to be the end of a standoff, the Student Senate of the University of Rhode Island decided not to derecognize the College Republicans for refusing to issue an apology for their White Heterosexual American Male scholarship.
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Civil Liberties Versus Safety
Since the Virginia Tech shootings, campuses nationwide have been on alert for anything reminiscent of the tragedy. A number of campus papers are reporting incidents highlighting the tension between students’ rights and students’ health and safety.
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Here We Go Again
Members of the YCampaign, a student group at Haverford College, plastered the campus with posters in anticipation of their open salon about the existence of racism. Meanwhile, Haverford's sister school Bryn Mawr College was caught up in its own race-related controversy.
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Student Sues Over Cancellation
A graduate student at Penn State University is suing the school for allegedly violating his First Amendment rites, citing the University's cancellation of his art exhibit last year.
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Panel Sparks Protest
At Columbia University, a panel discussion about allegations of the harvest of organs from Falun Gong practitioners in China sparked protest from members of the Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CUCSSA). A free-speech crisis ensued.
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Free-Speech Debate at the University of Rhode Island
In what’s being called an “unprecedented move,” the President of the University of Rhode Island has told the Student Senate to drop its demand for College Republicans to issue an apology for their whites-only scholarship.
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Anti-Islamic Sentiments On Campus
Students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology were surprised to find stacks of pamphlets expressing anti-Islamic messages all over their Campus Center. Student response was mixed, as some students were offended and others saw it as a harmless prank.
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Mystery Racist Flyers Distributed
Students and faculty at Washington State University were surprised to walk into a campus building and find flyers promoting white solidarity posted on the walls and stuck under doors.
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Burned
Three students from Yale University were arrested on charges including first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree criminal mischief, second-degree arson, breach of peace and conspiracy to commit second-degree arson after burning an American flag.
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Protesters Get Off Lightly
On October 4, student protesters at Columbia University rushed the stage as Minuteman Project Founder Jim Gilchrist was giving a speech. Now the University’s disciplinary process is winding down, and the students involved in the scuffle got the lightest of four possible disciplinary scenarios.
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Group Members Arrested for Chalking
Members of a group visiting Baylor University were arrested on charges of criminal trespassing after they refused to stop chalking messages of God’s love on the Christian campus.
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Exploring Academic Freedom
The Academic Affairs Council of the Student Senate at the University of New Hampshire held a forum for students to consider academic freedom.
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Activist's Battle Far From Over
The battle between Penn State and activist Olivia Guevara officially ended last week, when Judicial Affairs asked for damage fees and issued a seven-year citation on her academic record (criminal charges against her were dropped for lack of evidence). The motives for the University’s prosecution of Guevara are still being questioned, however.
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Considering Opinions in the Classroom
An article from the University of Delaware explores the implications of legislation, currently being considered by the Arizona State Legislature, which would limit what professors are allowed to say in college classrooms.
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The Way Around
Last year, when the Vagina Monologues was banned on Providence College’s campus, outraged students first protested, then began filming a documentary about the ban and students’ subsequent attempts to stage the play off-campus.
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Speaker Returns After a Badly Received Lecture
Mauricio Farah, an inspector for the Mexican Human Rights Commission, will be returning to the University of Arizona campus to speak a year after a verbal confrontation with audience members caused him to leave his lecture.
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Monologue/Dialogue
The Vagina Monologues caused controversy yet again, this time at Albion College. Players include the members of POWER, the College Republicans, and (surprisingly) some more College Republicans.
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TA Submitted Essay to Racists
Joshua McNair, a Colorado University Masters student and instructor in the English department, wrote a recently discovered essay promoting white solidarity in 2004.
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NYU Republicans Stir Controversy with Contest
New York University’s College Republicans held a “Find the Illegal Immigrant Hunt,” which they intended to generate controversy and spark discussion. It also sparked demonstrations, as hundreds of outraged students and community members took to the streets to protest.
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Chief Illiniwek Retired
Chief Illiniwek, the so-called “symbol” of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, danced his final performance Wednesday, Feb. 21, due to controversy surrounding the cultural implications of the “symbol” as well as NCAA sanctions on the University.
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Student Arrested in Pace Race Case
Racial slurs against blacks were found in the men’s bathrooms of a Pace building, and reported to the campus community on February 2nd. Since then, the NYPD has classified the incident as a hate crime and arrested a University student in connection with the case.
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Clemson Party’s Legacy Continues
The national debriefing of the notorious Clemson party continues with this article from the University of Delaware. Added to the consideration is coverage of fallout from UConn Law’s "Bullets and Bubbly" party.
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R.A.s Fired for Insensitive Muslim Portrayal
Five resident assistants of Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus have been fired from their jobs after making (and posting) a culturally insensitive video.
UPDATE: R.A.s reistated by a state court until a February 28th hearing.
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Two Wrongs Make One Expulsion?
Rick Kamdar, a student expelled for discrimination, physical abuse, and “conduct that endangers others,” will be appealing his expulsion from American University. The former AU senior is considering suing the University as well.
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Vagina Monologues Silenced
The Pace Press reports that college and university administrations around the country are banning "The Vagina Monologues."
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The Roman Empire Strikes Again
“Rape Only Hurts if You Fight It” was the headline from an opinion piece written by a Central Connecticut State University student—and Opinions Editor—for the campus newspaper The Recorder. Needless to say, students held a rally against the paper.
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Girls Gone Wild
University of Kansas women protested the presence of Girls Gone Wild on and near the University campus (GGW did not have permission to be on campus).
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Chalk It Up to That?
A Penn State graduate student who was fined for allegedly chalking anti-sweatshop messages on University property alleges that the university is singling her out for punishment.
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Liberal Bias?
According to recent studies, the majority of university faculty identify their political views as liberal rather than conservative. The extent to which their political leanings enter the classroom as bias is a subject of much debate, however.
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Student Group Trespasses at Boston University
The LaRouche Youth Movement is at the center of the latest storm at Boston University, where members have been something of a sidewalk staple for some time. Now they’re singing and pamphletting in classrooms, which Boston University has classified as trespass on private property.
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'Gangsta' Party Investigated at Clemson
The University of Texas paper The Daily Texan reports that Clemson University and the NAACP are investigating a “gangsta”-themed party where students drank malt liquor and at least one student was in blackface.
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An Un-named Controversy
when the Room Formerly Known As The Guillermo Morales/ Assata Shakur Community Student Center drew the ire of the New York Daily News, City University of New York’s Chancellor Goldstein demanded that City College’s President remove the sign bearing the center’s name.
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The V-Word
St. Joseph’s University is debating whether or not a performance of The Vagina Monologues should be allowed on campus this year.
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Uproar Over Mandatory Prayer
In a controversial policy change, all students enrolled in Yeshiva University’s undergraduate Mechinah course will have to participate in morning prayers.
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The Return of Separate but Equal?
More than 200 Howard University students led a protest against the Supreme Court’s decision to hear two controversial cases this week.
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Peace, Justice, and Tire Slashing
The administration of Macalester removed a zine from the racks of the Campus Center this week, then calling the charter members of the Macalester Peace and Justice Coalition (MPJC) to explain the action; the MPJC funded the zine, according to its back cover.
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Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Boston College’s paper The Heights considers one of the world’s greatest mysteries in this article—namely, why can’t people discuss the Israel-Palestinian conflict civilly?
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Who’s Watching Who?
More than many other institutions in the United States (excepting perhaps public libraries), college campuses have been at the center of the debate over the best way to balance civil liberties and national security.
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Double Vision
University of Maryland College Park is embroiled in a fascinating debate this week, which touches on both political beliefs and tactical choices.
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The Lie that Told the Truth
If your campus rallied behind a student who claimed to be the victim of a hate crime, only to find out that the student was lying, what do you think would happen?
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The Local Buzz
Is “local” the latest in pejorative campus slang? Howard University students have been using “local” to refer to individuals from the surrounding D.C. area.
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Wartime Recruitment
The Chronicle at Duke considers controversy over military recruitment in the local community and at area campuses.
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Trinity Shows Up
While Trinity College isn’t unique in having experienced some racial tensions of late (and what is up with the recent nationwide epidemic of seriously racist campus incidents?), Trinity is unusual in the determination of its campus community to meet these challenges as a community.
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...But You Can’t Yell “Fire”
Many schools struggle to balance the ideal of free speech and the desire to maintain a safe and nurturing learning environment.
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A Brief History of Campus Activism
How much do you know about the history of activism on your campus? In light of a large rally against a string of campus hate incidents, Boston College’s paper The Heights explores activism on their campus in a two-part feature.
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