The Daily Emerald has the latest on the administration’s removal of the Divest UO banner, from reporter Max Thornberry here: … [UO Strategic Communicator Tobin Klinger], on the other hand, praised the university for creating an environment that fosters discussion and debate about the issues of the day. “It comes down…
Posts tagged as “free speech”
Senate Meeting – April 6, 2016. Browsing Room, Knight Library; 3:00-5:00 pm. 2015-2016, Agendas, Watch Live. Synopsis: Ethics passed eventually. Online input policy passed. At the last minute VP for Student Life Robin Holmes bailed on the student-led discussion of the Mandatory Live-In Policy non-policy, probably preventing any substantive discussion before it goes into…
11/28/2015: From what I can tell $130K VP for Collaboration Chuck Triplett is actually going to bring his UO ethics policy to the Senate for debate and vote.
You must “make decisions based upon the greater good” and act in “wise, ethical, and prudent manner”, while not “shifting blame or taking improper credit”. And the administration thinks the *Senate* is wasting faculty time with pointless discussions?
I’ve already seen some pretty good suggestions for amendments, including the admirably brief
“University of Oregon Code of Ethics: All employees must follow the University of Oregon Policy on Freedom of Speech and Inquiry“.
If that fails, I’ll bring up my proposal for a Senate Unethical Activities Committee, with the power to investigate and blacklist offenders:
Meanwhile, rumor down at the Faculty Club Chapel (Episcopalian) is that there will also be questions from the faculty on how we can behave ethically without dedicating ourselves before God to our chosen profession, as VPFA Jamie Moffitt has been requiring the UO Police to do, ever since that unfortunate Bowl of Dicks incident:
Good thing our Johnson Hall bowl game junketeers aren’t sworn officers. That part about “never accepting gratuities” would be a problem.
As for the God business, sorry, but a higher authority disagrees: “… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
11/13/2015: UO ethics policy requires “civil, respectful, and nurturing environment”
And if you fail to “make decisions based upon the greater good” or don’t act in “a wise, ethical, and prudent manner” or if you engage in “shifting blame or taking improper credit”, you have violated UO policy, and you are subject to university discipline.
That’s according to UO’s newly revised “Code of Ethics” policy, posted on VP for Collaboration Chuck Triplett’s website, and open for comment here.
Everyone favors free speech they agree with. The acid test is defending speech you disagree with. UO has a strong policy defending such speech, here: The University of Oregon values and supports free and open inquiry. The commitment to free speech and freedom of inquiry described in this policy extends to all…
The gist: … However, the Faculty Senate does not endorse offering “trigger warnings” or otherwise labeling controversial material in such a way that students construe it as an option to “opt out” of engaging with texts or concepts, or otherwise not participating in intellectual inquiries. … In issuing this statement, the Faculty…
7/12/2015 update: AAUP press release here: The hearing committee, reporting on March 20, was unanimous in its findings. It found that removal with cause should not be considered. As to the ADA, it found that the charge was not substantiated by testimony. As to sexual harassment as defined at LSU,…
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education advocates for free speech for students and faculty. Starting last summer they decided to ramp up their game, with a legal fund set up to hire local law firms to sue universities that violated free speech rights. They’ve had a good year: One year ago…
The Baton Rouge Advocate has the news here: … Buchanan was fired even though a committee of five faculty members that presided over an 11-hour dismissal review hearing held on March 9 recommended that she keep her job. While the committee found that her adult language and humor violated university…
From his Washington Post law blog, here:
One of the latest things in universities, including at University of California (where I teach) is condemning “microaggressions,” supposed “brief, subtle verbal or non-verbal exchanges that send denigrating messages to the recipient because of his or her group membership (such as race, gender, age or socio-economic status).” Such microaggressions, the argument goes, can lead to a “hostile learning environment,” which UC — and the federal government — views as legally actionable. This is stuff you could get disciplined or fired for, especially if you aren’t a tenured faculty member.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has a fascinating column by Ari Cohn analyzing the 1985 court case that required TAMU to support the Gay Students Services group, and the recent statement from Marco Roberts, the student plaintiff, appealing for the opponents of the Indiana “religious liberty” law to…
UO Undergraduate Thomas Tullis got the video of a UOPD Officer making some extremely false statements about the First Amendment, to an extremely patient anti-abortion protester. The cop is very calm and professional about trying to keep the peace, but everything he says about UO and free speech is completely unconstitutional…
… instead of dumping millions on sophomoric strategic communicators and 160over90 branders? The RG Editorial Board asks the question, here. Update: It appears OU President Bowen may have been a little too decisive, in following up his move to disband the frat with a decision to expel two students. Bowen’s…
I’m no lawyer, but my understanding is that the normal immunity of state officials for official acts does not hold in cases involving violations of civil rights: AMES, Iowa, January 7, 2015—Yesterday, an Iowa federal judge denied Iowa State University’s (ISU’s) motion to dismiss a First Amendment lawsuit filed by students.…
Apparently the perps were offended by the cover of the latest issue: More in the NYT, here. The dead include the magazine’s editor, economist, and cartoonists.
Doesn’t Oregon have a free speech policy? We do, assuming Chuck Triplett hasn’t cancelled it yet: Expression of diverse points of view is of the highest importance, not solely for those who present and defend some view but for those who would hear, disagree, and pass judgment on those views.…