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Free speech group calls out USU for 'civility policy'
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By Kevin Opsahl
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<time datetime="2017-12-22T10:05:00-07:00" class="gmail-asset-date gmail-text-muted">20 hrs ago</time></li><li class="gmail-hidden-print"><a href="https://news.hjnews.com/education/free-speech-group-calls-out-usu-for-civility-policy/article_3dbaaf6f-1ebe-5f40-a491-4735630d6f5e.html#comments" class="gmail-cm"><span class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-comments"></span> (<span class="gmail-fb-comments-count"><span class="gmail-fb_comments_count">2</span></span>)</a></li></ul>
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<div class="gmail-subscriber-preview"><p>A
watchdog organization that monitors campus free speech policies
nationwide has singled out Utah State University this month for one of
the school’s speech codes that dictates how students should interact
with one another, faculty and staff.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-preview"><p>FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, announced in <a href="https://www.thefire.org/speech-code-of-the-month-utah-state-university/" target="_blank">an article</a> on its website that USU’s “<a href="http://catalog.usu.edu/content.php?catoid=12&navoid=3174" target="_blank">civility policy</a>” had earned the organization’s “Speech Code of the Month” for December.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>That
code, found in USU’s online catalog for the 2017-18 school year,
states: “All interactions with faculty members, staff members, and other
students shall be conducted with courtesy, civility, decency, and a
concern for personal dignity.”</p></div>
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<div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“On
the surface, this might sound reasonable: what’s wrong with asking for
basic civility and respect?” wrote Samantha Harris, a vice president for
FIRE, in the article. “The problem here … is that Utah State is not
asking, they’re telling. And requiring people to speak only in ways that
are civil and courteous is a violation of their right to free speech.”</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>Matthew LaPlante, USU faculty for journalism and communication, agrees with FIRE’s stance on this speech code.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“I’m
not comfortable with policies that police speech, nor do I find them
particularly enforceable,” he wrote in an email. “Courtesy, civility,
decency, and a concern for personal dignity are matters of considerable
subjectivity, and our laws are not intended to be subjective.”</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>USU
spokesman Tim Vitale was aware of FIRE’s recent article and said the
university is changing the wording of that particular conduct code.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“For
the last, I’d say, six to eight months, we’ve been in the process of
comprehensive review of policies and procedures and that one word
(shall) is already changed in a draft I’ve seen,” Vitale said.
“Something to the effect of, ‘We encourage courtesy, civility, decency
and concern for personal dignity.’”</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>Informed
in a Herald Journal interview that USU was changing the language of the
policy FIRE criticized, Harris called that a positive development.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“Changing
that word from sort of a mandatory to an aspirational language would
alleviate FIRE’s concerns, because, of course, universities are free to
encourage students to be civil,” she said. “I mean, I think civility and
respect are values most people support; the issue is when you require
all speech to be civil and courteous, you infringe on students’ free
speech rights.”</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>Vitale emphasized USU has “always valued free speech rights of every individual on campus.”</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“We allow all members on our campus, unequivocally, their free speech rights,” he said.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>Vitale further defended USU’s student conduct code by pointing to the students’ rights section of that same policy.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“These are all very explicit and clear ways in which we champion free speech rights of everyone,” Vitale said.</p></div>
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<div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>The
USU spokesman believes while there’s a place for FIRE to express its
views on USU’s speech policies, the university has a right to defend
them.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>“If they’re championing
free speech rights, more power to them; so are we,” he said. “Explicitly
and poignantly, we are champions of free speech rights of everyone.”</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>Although
LaPlante agreed with FIRE’s criticism of USU’s civility code, he
believes the school “does an exemplary job” of creating space for free
speech and educating the campus community on how to use that space.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>FIRE’s December article on USU speech policy is not the first time the watchdog group has called out USU. It did so in a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/threats-violence-lead-feminist-critic-cancel-speech-utah-state/" target="_blank">2014 article</a>,
right after feminist Anita Sarkeesian cancelled her speech at USU on
the grounds that the university would allow concealed firearms at the
event, citing Utah law. Sarkeesian, an outspoken critic of misogyny in
video gaming, had received death threats over her planned appearance at
USU.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only"><p>Renewed scrutiny by FIRE
of USU’s conduct codes comes at the end of a year in which officials
from colleges and universities across the country <a href="https://news.hjnews.com/logan_hj/protecting-speech-usu-campuses-nationwide-re-examine-rights-safety-academics/article_9d14ac1c-ee7b-578e-8ca6-1699a321fcef.html" target="_blank">took a hard look</a> at free speech on campus in light of white supremacists marching over the summer at University of Virginia.</p></div><p>At the beginning of the current school year, USU President Noelle Cockett called for a <a href="https://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/where-s-the-line-usu-panel-talks-campus-free-speech/article_72dbbe79-8ee6-5cd2-8c8d-5c4cae8c8cca.html" target="_blank">free speech panel discussion</a> and noted the school had reviewed its free speech codes to make potential changes</p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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