Free Speech and Academic Rights

  On October 4, student protesters at Columbia University rushed the stage as Minuteman Project Founder Jim Gilchrist was giving a speech. The rush then erupted into something of a brawl, inciting discussion about free speech and tolerance on a host of American campuses. Now the University’s disciplinary process is winding down, and the students involved in the scuffle got off with the lightest of four possible disciplinary scenarios: a disciplinary warning. 3/27/07 

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.  The Florida Independent Alligator is providing ongoing coverage.

Read the first article on the incident Read about

  Campus proselytizing caused a stir at several schools this week. At the University of California Davis, several Christian student groups united to form the very visible “I Found It Too” campaign. The campaign was so visible, in fact, that students debated whether the campaign amounted to free speech or an intrusion into other people’s rights to live their lives and beliefs in peace. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a preacher who is part of the evangelical group "Open Air Outreach" caused controversy as he preached his message near a safe-sex event called “Sex on the lawn.

  Two masked people, one identified as a University of California, Berkeley alumnus, protested last week from a tree outside a university building.  The two hung a banner condemning some of the university's actions, such as dealing with energy firm BP, and calling for the democratization of the UC Board of Regents. The masked protesters said they were fighting for free speech on the campus and hope students will rise to protest. Read more from the University of Californi

  Female coaches at Texas Southern University and California State schools at San Diego and Fresno have all filed lawsuits involving gender discrimination. The lawsuits are all based on unequal treatment of coaches under Title IX, the Equal Opportunity in Education Act. Most of the lawsuits involve discriminatory pay policies and unequal facilities provided for female athletes. CSU Fresno alone has already settled five cases of gender discrimination and owes over $16 million in combined settlements. For more from

  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. The testing makes use of strips to test students’ saliva for traces of alcohol. If students are found guilty of drinking in the dorms, they are issued a $100 fine and required to attend a counseling session. A second offense and students are evicted from the

  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. The members of the Soulforce Equality Ride, a gay advocacy group, were not Baylor students, but were accompanied by Baylor students in their action (many members of Soulforce are students at other universities). While early reports said that all of the arrested were not from Baylor, upon processing, police found that one of the six was, after all, a Baylor student. Students at the Baptist university had mixe