Tag: F.I.R.E.

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it all starts with speaking freely

FIRE President talks informally at Cal Poly on the need and the value of free discussion, open minds and free speech in American Universities.

It all starts with the ability to speak freely and openly on the issues of the day. To much progress and ultimately happiness has been lost throughout history by those who crush the ability of others to speak in order to protect their views. Convert to my way of thinking  or die is not a new concept but an ancient one.

Last night, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) President Greg Lukianoff discussed what free speech was and what it wasn’t. He regaled the audience with unfortunate stories of students that suffered serious abuse at the hands of administrators and it was unpleasant to hear. The most pointed reminder he gave was to remind us that these were all people expressing their right to speak and their lives could have been ruined without outside intervention.

Greg Lukianoff reminded us that although there are NOW more than a dozen GREEN light free speech schools when once there were none, there are still a couple thousand public colleges and universities that are failing to live up to the rights set forth in our Constitution.

Cal Poly has come a long way from the RED light school it once was and it was often commented that they were given their own attorney for a reason, but that is slowly changing. Today, they are a Yellow Light school and with just a slight more movement they could be GREEN.

It should be ‘easy been Green.’

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no transparency at cal poly and inclusive excellence

cal poly ombuds program?
what are you hiding Cal Poly?

I really love inexperienced managers because they feel that any problem can be solved either of two ways: 1) hide, evade or just say it isn’t so (even if everyone knows what is going on) or 2) use a bigger stick to try to make it go away. By the way, managerial experience isn’t measure by years of service, it is measured by outcomes and the loyalty and respect of all stakeholders.

Yesterday, I pointed out a letter by two of the many many vice presidents of Cal Poly that appeared in the hard copy but not the on-line copy of the newspaper. Today, a related front-page article appeared in the “Virtual Mustang,” but not in the regular online format that allows comments.  If an article is important enough to be on page one, shouldn’t it be presented in a form that allows the community to post responses?

As for the substance, I have placed both pages of today’s article on-line for your review.  See if it doesn’t raise a few questions in your mind.

Page 1 of Mustang Daily’s ‘Ombuds services article’ (Don’t call it ombudsman as that’s not ‘PC’)

Page 2

I have a couple of questions:

1) In the article, Ombuds Patricia Ponce’s role is described as “working with students before referring the issue to another department or individual.”  The example of a student admitting to slashing another student’s tires was used to illustrate a matter that would be referred. But what else is going to be “referred?” Offensive speech? “Sexually suggestive fruit eating” (actually banished by another university)? Putting up a flyer other students don’t like (which was  Steve Hinkle’s “crime”)? What possible punishments await the person whose actions are “referred?”

2) Even though referrals will be made, the article states that “no individual records” or “paper trail” would be kept. How then, would an accused person protect himself/herself when David Conn goes looking for an applicable “free speech or campus policy?” Don’t we have a basic right to confront our accusers? It seems like the Cal Poly Ombuds program is combining confidentiality and accusations in a dangerous way.

FIRE has repeatedly informed the campus that the way to move their current yellow light rating to a green is to explicitly state that students will not be punished for protected speech, even if it is uncivil and offensive. Having an ombuds is fine, as long as the focus is on helping the offended student deal with his/her feelings, but Cal Poly will once again find itself in court if it tries to punish the offenders.

try a little harder, Chip.

Roger Freberg

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F.I.R.E. and their new book exposing censorship

foundation for individual mrights in education

Tonight Greg Lukianoff is announcing the coming of his new book with F.I.R.E. : ‘Greg’s book will explore how today’s college students are “unlearning liberty,” and discuss what happens to our society when students are taught in a campus environment that is marred by speech codes and censorship. Greg’s book will also cover FIRE’s work on hundreds of cases involving student and faculty rights over the past decade..’

Greg writes the following on the  Huffington post:

“This brings me to my big project for 2010: I’m working on a book highlighting the literally hundreds of cases I’ve worked on involving crazy abuses of student and faculty rights. I intend to demonstrate how campus censorship, far from being a niche concern applicable only to those on campus, is a threat to the functioning of our democracy as a whole.”

Greg discusses this tonight at his alma mater Stanford!

Roger Freberg

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standing room only for F.I.R.E. at Cal Poly

UPDATE: click to  listen to Adam Kissel’s complete Audio of his presentation at Cal Poly

standing room only greets the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
with fifteen minutes to go before it was scheduled to start, the room was filling up!

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has a 7 year history in working with Cal Poly starting with the now famous Steve Hinkle case. Steve Hinkle beat Cal Poly in Federal Court and proved that even large institutions must follow the law.

Yesterday, Adam Kissel of F.I.R.E. met with three administrators, but to be honest, he actually ‘dropped’ by one who had an ‘open’ spot on their calendar. To me, it sounded like the administrators really didn’t get this ‘constitutional rights’ stuff and at a minimum, they seemed to disagree with all of it! wow…. sounds like more fun with Cal Poly down the road.

Here is a link to the Adam Kissel event and further link to F.I.R.E.’s complete history with Cal Poly… which — unfortunately —  is not over.

Thanks to all who are working to change the Cal Poly culture, even if it turns out to be one federal lawsuit at a time.

Roger Freberg

My View: The University as ‘PARENT?’… We all expected that when the state determined adulthood began at 18 that this would open the door to students for self determination, greater responsibility and authority over themselves. However, many universities — and I believe Cal Poly to be one of them — act as though it is now their ‘parental’ role to step in to change and mold the values of incoming students to fit their grand socio-political view… using coercion and harsh discipline to ensure compliance. This is ethically troublesome and morally repugnant although is clearly part of the Cal Poly culture.

Years ago, a fellow faculty member once told me that ‘Cal Poly rewards compliance and not achievement’. I still wince a bit when I see sycophants rewarded and those of achievement ignored…. unfortunately, I believe  this value still permeates the Cal Poly administrative culture from top to bottom.

It appears to me that Cal Poly’s most cherished goal of education is not achievement, but compliance.