Universities warned on censorship

by A. John Garcia

Daily Lobo

The U.S. Department of Education issued a letter late last month to universities across the nation reminding them that campus speech regulations should not infringe upon First Amendments rights.

The letter, written by Gerald Reynolds, Office of Civil rights assistant secretary, outlines how universities should act during on-campus protests or any other time members of the university community are expressing their freedom of speech. It also clarifies and defines the parameters of regulating harassment issues.

"Universities' statutes regarding censorship should be intended to protect students from insidious discrimination, not to regulate the content of free speech," Reynolds wrote in the letter. "It should be recognized that the offensiveness of a particular expression, standing alone, is not a legally sufficient basis to establish a hostile environment under the statutes enforced by the Office of Civil Rights."

Colleges maintain different speech policies, which target protests, demonstrations and literature on campus. Some are designed to protect the rights of those who may be expressing offensive speech, others are in support of those who may be harassed by such ideas.

"The University is committed to tolerate all peaceful speech activities carried out upon the campus unless those activities destroy or materially damage property, materially disrupt other legitimate University activities, or create a substantial health or safety hazard," according to UNM's Business Policies and Procedures policy 2220 which addresses free speech at the University. "This policy applies to all buildings, grounds, and property owned or controlled by the University.

UNM's policy states that speech activities protected by the policy include speechmaking, praying, the distribution of written materials, picketing, assembling in groups, demonstrating, sidewalk chalking and erecting symbolic structures on campus.

If a person or group wants to stage an activity or event at UNM, that person or group must fill out an activity clearance form and submit it to the Student Activities Center in the SUB basement, said Susan Corban, assistant director of the center. The center's officials then decide whether the person or group is allowed to demonstrate.

There are also regulations for posting fliers on campus, which can be obtained at the center, Corban said.

Reynolds said in the letter that for a university to censor free speech on its campus, "it must include something beyond the mere expression of views, words, symbols or thought that some person finds offensive."

Officials from the New Mexico Public Interest Research Group say they have not had any trouble with First Amendment violations at UNM.

"It just doesn't seem right that there are any restrictions on free speech or restrictions on the democratic process," said Dorie Bunting, coordinator at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice.

Don Schroeder, political activist mainstay at UNM, said the University has never infringed upon his first amendment rights.

"I've never had any problems with UNM," Schrader said. " I've demonstrated 571 times by myself and they've never impugned on my First Amendment rights."