Free Republic

The family of Kristin Smart, the California college student who vanished 23 years ago after attending a party near her school, was reportedly told by federal agents to be prepared for news and to secure a family spokesperson. Denise Smart, the woman's mother, told the Stockton Record that she was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was told to "be ready." "This is really going to be something you don't expect. We want to give you the support you need," she said she was told. The report said the FBI was not clear on what the development was,...

The family of Kristin Smart said there’s no imminent news expected in the case of the missing California college student, who vanished in 1996.

Contrary to recent reports, federal agents told The Chronicle on Wednesday that they did not tell the family of missing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart that a big break in the 23-year cold case was imminent. A spokesman for the family confirmed Wednesday that the person who advised Smart’s mother, Denise, was not an active FBI agent.

by Tom Ciccotta An assistant professor at California State Polytechnic University argues in a recent academic research paper that eastern fox squirrels are subjected to a “gendered, racialized, and speciesist” form of media bias. Teresa Lloro-Bidart, an associate professor of liberal studies at Cal Poly, argues in a recently published postmodernist research paper that eastern fox squirrels are on the receiving end of racially-charged media bias. Lloro-Bidart claims that she worked towards such a conclusion by analyzing the coverage of eastern fox squirrels through “feminist posthumanist,” and “feminist food studies” lenses. Lloro-Bidart contends that eastern fox squirrels, which is the...

Her disappearance sparked a massive manhunt, with searchers using helicopters, horses and an army of volunteers, and even ground-penetrating radar. She was never found and was presumed dead. The cold case took a new twist Tuesday when the FBI and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department announced they were excavating at three sites on a hillside near the dormitories. The search is centered on the giant “P” in a hillside sign that stands for Cal Poly. Officials said they picked the locations based on the activities of human decomposition dogs. ... Sheriff’s investigators along with a specialized FBI team...

SAN LUIS OBISPO - The nation's youth need something new and exciting to inspire them to be the creative geniuses of tomorrow, Burt Rutan believes. Rutan, arguably one of today's most creative geniuses, thinks commercial manned spaceflight is the answer to that challenge. Rutan outlined his vision for the future of personal space travel for the masses Friday at his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The noted aviation designer - seen by many as responsible for launching a new era in spaceflight with his SpaceShipOne spacecraft - was honored by the university during its annual Fall...

The Fordham Law Republicans are sponsoring a screening of a 46-minute documentary Brainwashing 101 on Thursday, February 24th, 2005, at 6 p.m. The film, which analyzes political correctness on college campuses, was recently named one of the ten best documentaries of 2004 by the Liberty Film Festival. Brainwashing 101 will be shown in the McNally Amphitheater of Fordham Law School at 140 West 62nd Street (between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues). A question-and-answer session with director Evan Coyne Maloney will follow the screening. All are welcome; admission is free. If you are not able to attend the screening, you can view...

Separation of Church and Club BY NICK MORTEN 2004-05-18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No one likes spam. I hate opening an e-mail and reading, “Hey, it’s Jenny from high school,” only to realize that this Jenny wants to naturally enlarge my penis or boost my credit. I didn’t ask for either, and if I were interested, I wouldn’t get anything from this piece of deception. Like many other Cal Poly Pomona students, I’ve noticed the disturbing increase of spam on campus.Most are easily avoidable; groups soliciting their fill-in-the-blank agenda are easily identifiable from a distance. There is, however, one group on campus...

Cal Poly settles with student in lawsuit over free speech Jeff Ballinger The Tribune Cal Poly has agreed to a $40,000 settlement with Steve Hinkle, the student disciplined last year for posting an unauthorized flier on campus. The amount was to cover the legal bills of Hinkle, an industrial technology student who is president of the College Republicans. The settlement comes after Hinkle filed a lawsuit in federal court last September, claiming the university had violated his First Amendment rights by punishing him for trying to post a flier promoting a conservative author. University officials released a statement Thursday on...

Major Victory for Free Speech at Cal Poly University Settles Lawsuit, Abandons Effort to Defend Censorship SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—In a major victory for liberty and equal rights on campus, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) has settled a free speech lawsuit. The case involved Cal Poly student Steve Hinkle, who was punished for posting a flier on a public bulletin board announcing a College Republicans-sponsored speech by a black social critic. Some students at the campus Multicultural Center found the flier "offensive." See the flier here. Cal Poly has agreed to expunge Hinkle's disciplinary record relating to the incident,...

<p>Most college presidents argue that their campuses and classrooms encourage the free exchange of ideas. Where else but here, they say, can difficult issues be debated?</p> <p>But as campus officials look for ways to accommodate the growing diversity of their student bodies, an increasingly vocal number of students — most of them white and predominantly conservative or Christian — say there is little room for their opinions and beliefs.</p>

A California Polytechnic State University senior plans to file a lawsuit against top campus officials today, arguing that they unfairly punished him after he tried to post a flier promoting an upcoming speech by an author whose ideas a group of black students found offensive.

(CNSNews.com) - California Polytechnic State University student Steve Hinkle, who sparked a free speech debate when trying to advertise a campus lecture, is now suing the university over its refusal to clear his record. The dispute dates back to November 2002, when Hinkle was confronted by students in the university's multicultural center about a flier he was posting to promote a speech by conservative black author Mason Weaver. Weaver's speech went on without incident, but Hinkle has been fighting since March to clear his record of a judicial infraction, "disruption of a campus event," stemming from the encounter. Even though...

Many of America's colleges and universities have become the modern leaders of racism and intolerance. Recently, we were treated to information about racism at the University of Michigan, where its academic elite gave students 20 extra points toward admission based solely on race. The U.S. Supreme Court found this explicit racism unconstitutional but did allow continuance of a more hidden form, where universities can consider race as "a plus" in admission decisions. The University of Michigan case is merely the tip of the iceberg. There are loads of racist and intolerant practices thought up by the academic elite that our...

Government Urges Colleges to Heed First Amendment Potentially Offensive Speech Must Be Allowed By REGINA CHEN Contributing Writer Friday, August 15, 2003 Responding to letters from across the nation about the state of free speech on college campuses, the U.S. Department of Education sent a strong reminder to universities that campus speech regulations should not infringe upon First Amendment rights. College campuses all maintain different speech policies targeting protests and political literature, intended to protect all students' rights—from those who may be expressing offensive speech to those who may be harassed by such ideas. The letter also clarified the...

Student Punished for Posting a Constitutionally Protected Flier SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA — Audiotapes in the possession of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) show that a student at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) was unjustly punished for posting, in a public lounge, a flier that some students considered “offensive.” FIRE came to the defense of the embattled undergraduate student, Steve Hinkle, in April 2003. Despite FIRE’s efforts to resolve the case amicably and discreetly, Cal Poly persists in its injustice, its deceit, and its abandonment of its moral and constitutional obligations. “There are at least three...

(CNSNews.com) - The involvement of university administrators in a campus dispute at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo is getting "more and more outrageous every day," according to the white student who was ordered to apologize for posting a flyer at the school's multicultural center. Following a recent barrage of news reports about the dispute between student Steve Hinkle and Cal Poly administrators, including a July 10 report by CNSNews.com, university officials posted a new message on their Internet site, claiming that "the university strives to create and maintain a campus environment that supports free speech and open...

Steve Hinkle on now: www.ksfo.com

Initially labeled a “suspicious white male” by police investigating a dispute at the multicultural center on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, student Steve Hinkel continues to defy university officials who want him to apologize for posting a flyer advertising a conservative speaker. The original dispute occurred Nov. 12, 2002, when Hinkle, a member of the College Republicans, entered the Cal Poly Multicultural Center to post a flyer promoting an upcoming speech by Mason Weaver, a conservative black author of the book It’s OK to Leave the Plantation. The book analyzes the dangers of blacks becoming too dependent on...

(CNSNews.com) - Initially labeled a "suspicious white male" by police investigating a dispute at the multicultural center on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, student Steve Hinkel continues to defy university officials who want him to apologize for posting a flyer advertising a conservative speaker. The original dispute occurred Nov. 12, 2002, when Hinkle, a member of the College Republicans, entered the Cal Poly Multicultural Center to post a flyer promoting an upcoming speech by Mason Weaver, a conservative and African American author of the book It's OK to Leave the Plantation The book analyzes the dangers of...