Free Republic

A university student who challenged his school's "speech code" and won a ruling in federal court that it was vague, overbroad and stifled student speech, including his Christian views, is continuing his battle with Temple University because the school has – three years after he completed it – declined to provide a grade on his master's thesis, thus effectively denying him his degree. The Alliance Defense Fund recently announced that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had affirmed the district court victory by Christian DeJohn, who is a sergeant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. The ADF handled DeJohn's...

Victory for Free Speech in DeJohn v. Temple by Kelly Sarabyn August 4, 2008 The Third Circuit Court of Appeals filed an opinion today in DeJohn v. Temple University, et al. The opinion provides an eloquent defense of free speech rights on university campuses and concludes with an unambiguous finding that Temple's speech code is facially unconstitutional. Today's ruling is a great victory for Sergeant Christian DeJohn, the Temple master's student and member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard who brought the challenge to Temple's speech code. Christian's willingness to take a stand for his First Amendment right to free...

HOLLAND, Mich., July 23 (UPI) -- A Republican Michigan congressman is fighting a Bush administration ban on using words offensive to Muslims while describing terrorists. Rep. Peter Hoekstra offered an amendment last week to the 2009 Intelligence Authorization Act that would ban financing for any restriction on use of words such as "jihadist" and "Islamist." Fellow Republican Michigan Reps. Joe Knollenberg and Thaddeus McCotter, and Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, supported the amendment which was approved by a 249-180 vote in the House, The Detroit News reported Wednesday. Some analysts say the words inadvertently honor terrorists while they are considered slurs...

Weatherford, OK – Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), has issued a disturbing policy which requires all employees to refrain from using the word "Christmas" in oral or written form. This directive was given by the university upon legal advice of the Oklahoma Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmondson. Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to SWOSU following a complaint from a university affiliate. John Misak, the Director of Human Resources, recently visited various university departments and employee groups and informed everyone that any decorations featuring the word "Christmas" in any work or public areas of the university must be immediately removed....

Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford has issued a disturbing directive forbidding employees to say or write the word "Christmas." This directive was given by the University upon legal advice of the (Oklahoma Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmondson). Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to the University following a complaint from a University affiliate. The controversy began when the University's Director of Human Resources recently visited various departments and said that decorations featuring the word "Christmas" in any areas of the University must be immediately removed. He also instructed the employees not so say "Christmas" while on the job. As...

The Problem of Offense by: Bethany Stotts, November 28, 2007 Offense is a “psychological construct,” argued University of Nevada-Reno Adjunct Psychology Professor William O’Donohue at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference on the politically-correct university. He noted that proponents of political correctness often do so in order to reduce offense, yet define political correctness so broadly and inconsistently as to encompass Aleutian Islanders while excluding the oft-persecuted Jews. These inconsistencies inherent to politically-correct ideology require proponents to simultaneously uphold contradictory doctrines, argued George Mason University Professor Jeremy Mayer at the conference. “To be liberal on a college campus today...

Accusations of racism in a Lee's Summit high school have lead to suspensions, but now the parents say their kids were unfairly punished. Travis Grigsby loves playing drums, but he and his friend Alex Coday weren't able to play for two weeks after they were suspended. It started after the band's performance at a football game. Some kids on the drum line said they were talking about the best knots to use to tie up the drum equipment. "Someone asked if anybody knew how to tie a noose and Travis did admit he knew how to tie a noose," Kim...

State Representative District 51 40 of 40 Precincts 100% Joe Harrison 4,338 57% Carla Dartez (I) 3,276 43% (I) denotes incumbent candidate

LOS ANGELES — City Councilman Bernard Parks Tuesday introduced a resolution symbolically banning the “N” word in Los Angeles. Nearly a year ago, Michael Richards, who played Kramer on “Seinfeld” repeatedly used the word when he took on a heckler during a stand-up routine at the Laugh Factory and, last week, reality-television figure Duane “Dog” Chapman was excoriated for his use of the derogatory term for blacks. On Friday, the City Council will vote on the resolution, which is similar to a ban called for by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles. The word “connotes a...

FIRE Press Release SAN FRANCISCO, November 8, 2007—In a crucial victory for free speech, a federal judge has ordered San Francisco State University (SFSU) and the California State University System (CSU) to stop enforcing several unconstitutional speech codes. The codes were challenged in a lawsuit filed by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in cooperation with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). “This decision is a vital step in the fight against unconstitutional campus speech codes,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “The court’s decision frees hundreds of thousands of students throughout the CSU System from unlawful restrictions...

Charges 'ridiculous' Mischief investigation targets plans for mock gunfight at mall By KENNETH JACKSON, SUN MEDIA An Ottawa teen believes cops were too quick to pull the trigger on a mischief investigation that involved shaping his hand into a gun and yelling bang in a mock gunfight. Henrick Vierula told the Sun he doesn't deserve to be charged with multiple criminal offences after participating in a phenomena known as a "flash mob" at the Rideau Centre on Friday. "The whole thing is ridiculous," said Vierula, 19. Vierula and other participants were to shape their hands into a gun, point them...

A veteran San Francisco police officer is under departmental investigation - and could be suspended - for writing a letter to The Chronicle criticizing the way Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Police Department are handling the homeless problem in Golden Gate Park. According to police sources, Sgt. John Lewis of Park Station is being investigated for authoring a letter that "undermines the efficiency of the department." Lewis' letter, published on The Chronicle's editorial page Aug. 15, questioned the Newsom administration's tactic of sending cops and outreach workers into the park before dawn to steer campers into social programs or, if...

For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating—or living her faith? It was an elegant example of the Clinton style, a rhetorical maneuver subtle, bold, and banal all at once. During a Democratic candidate forum in June, hosted by the liberal evangelical group Sojourners, Hillary Clinton fielded a softball query about Bill's infidelity: How had her faith gotten her through the Lewinsky scandal? After a glancing shot at Republican "pharisees," Clinton explained that, of course, her "very serious" grounding in faith had helped...

FReep This Poll! Do you think the term 'anchor babies' is racist or hate speech? Yes No Not sure Link over to the North County Times/The Califorian link provided. Scroll down a bit and look for the poll on the right hand side. Vote your choice. This poll should remain active for the next 24 hours (approximately.)

DON'T LAUGH TOO HARD By F.I.R.E. May 21, 2007 -- HOW would you feel if you got in trouble not for telling an off-color joke, but simply for laughing at one? Sounds inconceivable, right? Not at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where school policy prohibits not only "inconsiderate jokes" but also "inappropriately directed laughter." Not only won't they let you tell certain jokes, they promise to punish you for finding them funny. Drexel is not alone in its prohibition of what can only be described as typical college student interaction. Northeastern University in Boston, apparently the self-appointed arbiter of good taste,...

Michigan State Ends Controversial Thought Reform Program FIRE Press Release EAST LANSING, Mich., May 3, 2007—After months of public pressure, Michigan State University (MSU) has ended its controversial Student Accountability in Community (SAC) program. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) urged MSU to end the SAC program because it forced students whose speech or behavior was deemed unacceptable to undergo ideological reeducation, or else face effective expulsion. “Until now, engaging in free speech at MSU could have resulted in mandatory pseudo-psychological counseling or the end of a student’s academic career,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “We’re overjoyed to...

...In their 1993 book, The Shadow University, Alan Charles Kors and Harvey Silverglate turned some of the early speech codes into national laughingstocks. Among the banned comments and action they listed: “intentionally producing psychological discomfort” (University of North Dakota), “insensitivity to the experience of women” (University of Minnesota), and “inconsiderate jokes” (University of Connecticut). Serious nonverbal offenses included “inappropriate laughter” (Sarah Lawrence College), “eye contact or the lack of it” (Michigan State University), and “subtle discrimination,” such as “licking lips or teeth; holding food provocatively” (University of Maryland). Later gems, added well after the courts struck down campus codes as...

The agents of political correctness who police the nation's college and university campuses generally use shame and scorn to beat down free expression deemed offensive by the tiniest minority. But sometimes, institutions aren't content to merely marginalize those who fail to embrace a worldview that emphasizes the rights of groups over those of individuals. Rather than engage these free spirits in open debate in a classroom setting -- isn't that what college is all about? -- administrators seek to re-educate these malefactors on the proper way to think. Michigan State University has taken the multicultural mantra of indoctrination to a...

Despite the fact that the majority of courts have struck down speech codes as being unconstitutional for overbreadth and/or vagueness, approximately 351 American universities, both public and private, are still enforcing such codes. This can be seen both in information collected by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as well as from the practicing college and university websites. The purpose of speech codes is to protect students from hearing words that may offend them. This protection comes at a high price: our fundamental First Amendment right of freedom of speech. Although the Supreme Court has never decided a...

GLAAD Urges Caution in Reporting on Language in New York Marriage Decision NEW YORK - July 6 - The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today urged media outlets reporting on the New York Court of Appeals' decision in Hernandez v. Robles, Samuels v. New York, and the state's other marriage cases to avoid uncritical reiteration of the plurality opinion's repeated use of the phrase "sexual preference" -- an inaccurate term for sexual orientation that violates Associated Press style guidelines. The AP Stylebook's entry for gay reads: "Used to describe men and women attracted to the same sex,...

CHICAGO, June 30 (UPI) -- Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, fined for using a gay slur against a columnist, says he'll spend an off-day at the Gay Games on July 17. He also plans to attend sensitivity training sessions soon, the Chicago Sun- Times reported. Guillen said he had already planned to attend the Gay Games, and his visit is not related to the trouble he got into with Major League Baseball for calling Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti a "fag" during a locker room interview. Guillen has apologized.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military will not punish a Marine who performed an obscenity-laced song to a laughing and cheering crowd of fellow troops in Iraq making light of killing Iraqis, the Marine Corps said on Tuesday. The Marines two weeks ago launched a preliminary inquiry into whether Cpl. Joshua Belile, who returned home from Iraq in March, violated military law or rules in singing the song, a four-minute video of which was posted on the Internet. In the song, titled "hadji girl," Belile sang to fellow troops at a base in Iraq about encountering an Iraqi woman and...

Disciplining a student for wearing a $5 T-shirt five years ago could end up costing the Warren Hills Regional School District close to $1 million. The Warren County district has been ordered to pay nearly $600,000 in plaintiffs' legal fees incurred during the 5-year-old free speech rights battle over whether a high school student could wear his "redneck" T-shirt. That tally does not include the amount the district has paid its own lawyers. Thomas Sypniewski Jr. was suspended for three days during his senior year in 2001 for wearing a T-shirt that listed blue-collar comedian Jeff Foxworthy's Top 10 reasons...

LAS VEGAS, June 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The name of Christ is so offensive to modern secular ears that Clark County School District officials, who knew it was coming, cut off the microphone during a valedictorian address before they or anyone else could hear it.   Brittany McComb is a Christian and a top student graduating from Foothill High. She knew that her valedictorian address would probably be cut short, but was determined to go ahead and mention the one name that is for her above every other name.   "I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me...

SACRAMENTO-– A California legislative committee passed a bill yesterday that would force all public schools to promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality on campus. The California Senate Education Committee approved AB 606 on a 7-to-2 party-line vote, Democrats for, Republicans against. The author is Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, a Los Angeles Democrat. AB 606 would authorize the California Superintendent of Public Instruction to arbitrarily withhold state funds (around 2/3rds of a school district’s budget) from any district that does not adequately promote transsexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality in its school policies. AB 606 repeals the current state law prohibiting transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual...

Robert Smith, Roman Catholic and now-former Metro board member, believes homosexuality is a form of “deviancy.” Jim Graham, District of Columbia Council member, believes Smith’s beliefs are “ancient and archaic.” Graham’s views cost him nothing. Smith’s cost him his job. Graham and Smith’s now-former boss, Maryland Gov. Bob Erhlich, should have said something like this: “I repudiate Smith’s views and find them disgusting, but it’s a free country and he can say whatever he thinks about any issue.” In a culture increasingly dominated by political correctness, however, such remarks would be derided.So we have a fundamental issue: freedom of speech...

Southern California High School Sued for Silencing Student on Issue of Illegal Immigration To: National Desk Contact: Richard D. Ackerman, Esq., Lively, Ackerman & Cowles, 951-308-6454, 951-258-5456 cell RIVERSIDE, Calif., June 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- The public interest firm of Lively, Ackerman & Cowles filed suit on behalf of Jurupa Valley High School student Joshua Denhalter on Thursday afternoon. The First Amendment suit alleges that the public high school has intentionally interfered with his right to speak out on the issue of illegal immigration. Mr. Denhalter alleges that on March 27, 2006, dozens of high school students, mostly of Mexican-American...

MIRA LOMA - A Jurupa Valley High School senior suspended for promoting an anti-immigration protest on campus has filed a lawsuit, arguing the school violated his free speech rights. Joshua Denhalter, 18, was suspended for three days in late March after he attempted to organize a counterprotest against pro-immigration-inspired demonstrations and school walkouts. The mass protests were in response to harsher penalties for illegal immigrants being proposed in Congress. "There are two standards. Students can walk out of school, walk on to freeways, and nothing happens to them. I try to do something legally, and I get slapped,'' Denhalter said...

There's a famous joke that goes like this: What's the difference between a Rottweiler and a Jewish mother? Eventually, the Rottweiler lets go. Now, some Jews may find that joke offensive. I don't. But if you're insulted, and you live in Boulder, you're in luck. Soon enough, you may be able to report me to the authorities. Tuesday, the Boulder City Council will take up the matter of allocating public funding for a "hate hotline," which would give residents an opportunity to report incidents in which Boulderites use tactless language. "Our concern - and there are many - is that...

Ga. Tech defends gay-inclusive policies Lawsuit among rising tide of challenges to so-called ‘speech codes’ By DYANA BAGBY Friday, May 12, 2006 Responding this week to a federal lawsuit filed by two students against the Georgia Institute of Technology, state attorneys said the public university’s policies do not limit the free speech rights of those who oppose gay rights. Tech does not "prohibit or restrict expressive speech or activity by students or their organizations. Students, faculty and friends of Tech have the right to make statements as they please in the public areas without fear of reprisals," Assistant Attorney General...

A week ago, Penn State University canceled a student’s art exhibit because of who was sponsoring it. According to the Penn State Collegian, Josh Stulman’s art exhibit Portraits of Terror which was being sponsored by Penn State Hillel, a Jewish student group, was cancelled by Charles Garoian, the Director of Visual Arts. Stulman is a senior in painting and anthropology and is himself Jewish. Garoian sent Stulman an email three days before the exhibit was going to be displayed, saying his work “did not promote cultural diversity,” according to the Collegian. The email also said the decision was made after...

Perhaps the most contentious issue surrounding the academic freedom movement is whether or not legislators should get involved with passing things like the Academic Bill of Rights. At the national Academic Freedom Conference held on April 6-7 in Washington, D.C. one panel of legislators, some who have been vilified publicly for their concerns, discussed measures taken within their own states. Former state Senator John Andrews of Colorado said that what many denounce as anecdotal evidence, legislators term “putting a human face on the problem.” “We were the first state to consider legislation,” said Sen. Andrews, explaining that a bill was...

On a visit to some colleges and universities the bias so frequently alleged by conservative students and their concerned parents appears fully-formed before the naked eye and ear. Last month, at George Washington University, I filled in for Sara Russo of Students for Academic Freedom in a debate on the Academic Bill of Rights designed by SAF’s founder—conservative author and activist David Horowitz. I faced off against a young lady named Megan Fitzgerald, who works with a group called Campus Free Speech. Later, I learn that Miss Fitzgerald has requested and been given the exclusive right to make presentations on...

THE SUPPOSED "WAR ON CHRISTMAS," like the holiday season itself, won't start for another few months. Meanwhile, and just in time for Easter, Christian activists have a new battle: the war on Christian students. But this war is being waged in courtrooms instead of on right-wing radio, and what's really being defended is the right to free speech. As Times reporter Stephanie Simon reported this week, the Christian Legal Society and other groups are going to court to challenge campus conduct codes designed to protect students from verbal or physical abuse on the basis of race, gender, religion and (what's...

FALLBROOK ---- The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday called for administrators at Fallbrook High School to apologize to a student who said she was told to stop displaying an American flag on campus two weeks ago. Fifteen-year-old Malia Fontana said the district violated her right to free speech when it asked her to remove a handkerchief-sized flag that she wore in her back pocket when she went to school on March 31. Tom Anthony, superintendent of the Fallbrook Union High School District, said he will meet with school officials when they return from spring break Monday morning to discuss...

Supporters of education have always sought to prevent the systematic imposition of views on students, said U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee at the first national Academic Freedom conference last week. The conference was held by David Horowitz’ Students for Academic Freedom on April 6 and 7 at the Washington Court Hotel in D.C. Delivering the keynote speech during breakfast, Alexander spoke on issues of political one-sidedness that he believes dominates American campuses. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) was incensed by political one-sidedness of the right years ago, but now the problem is on the left said Alexander....

When their affirmative action bake sale was shut down, College Republicans at the Georgia Institute of Technology bristled. When university officials ordered parts of their protest signs for “The Vagina Monologues” be painted over with white paint, they fumed. Now, two members of the student organization are suing the public university in Atlanta, alleging the school’s Community Policies repeatedly restricted their free speech and continue to infringe on their rights. The university’s Community Guide for 2005-06 identifies several “Acts of Intolerance” that are considered “unacceptable,” including “any attempt to injure, harm, malign or harass a person because of race, religious...

ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant. Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation. Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy. With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The...

Schools of Reeducation? By Frederick M. Hess Washington Post 02/05/06 For those who have been troubled by the tendency of universities to adopt campus speech codes, a worrisome new fad is rearing its head in the nation's schools of education. Stirred by professional opinion and accreditation pressures, teachers colleges have begun to regulate the dispositions and beliefs of those who would teach in our nation's classrooms. At the University of Alabama, the College of Education explains that it is "committed to preparing individuals to promote social justice, to be change agents, and to recognize individual and institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia,...

California Tells Christian Club it Must Admit Non-Christians and Homosexuals By Brendan Steinhauser Jan 2, 2006 A new Christian club at California State University--San Bernardino was recently denied official recognition by the university because it required its members to adhere to Biblical principles of morality. Some of these principles, as explained by the student organizer, Ryan Sorba, include abstaining from premarital sex and homosexual relations. Sorba says that in order to join his Christian group, a student must adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ and strive to avoid sinful behavior. According to Cal-State San Bernardino President Albert Karnig, these...

The following is a press release from the FIRE about Stetson University's controversial magazine, Common Sense. Stetson University Outlaws Jay Leno Administrators Shamelessly Ban Student Magazine, Harangue Advertisers December 8, 2005 FIRE Press Release DELAND, Fla., December 8, 2005—Stetson University has announced that parody, “derogatory” or “demeaning” comments, and even jokes from The Tonight Show are out of bounds for its students. Stetson’s chilling declarations came after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) protested the private Florida university’s censorship of a student magazine. “Stetson’s Orwellian policies should scare every student on its campus,” remarked FIRE President David French....

The secret is out, the nasty rumor mill at one Bay State school will now grind to a halt. In a new section of this year’s Bellingham middle school handbook, titled “Rumors,” students caught “creating or repeating rumors will incur strong consequences.” Those consequences include everything from a reprimand to suspension, according to Principal Elaine D’Alfonso. “Schools are breeding places for rumors, but one day last spring, I had to deal with a rumor about a teacher that threatened to end the teacher’s career,” said D’Alfonso. The new policy is aimed right at girls who have turned up the heat...

Add “terrorism” and “terrorist” to the list of forbidden words in U.S. Universities. Three former Middle East TERRORISTS have had their speaking event canceled because they used the word terrorist in the promotion of the event. The ex-TERRORISTS had planned to speak about the TERRORIST mindset and their indoctrination into Islamic TERRORISM. According to Princeton University, unless this word is applied to a non-Muslim American or a “Christian” who has committed a crime, calling a terrorist a terrorist is far too intolerant and may offend someone (even if the people using the word are admitted ex-TERRORISTS). The only people I...

Recently, an atheist student organization at The University of Texas at San Antonio set up a “Smut for Smut” booth allowing students to exchange their religious scriptures (mostly the Holy Bible) for pornography. Unsurprisingly, they got the idea from another group at The University of Texas at Austin. It almost gets depressing when you look at schools like Auburn University – a school that is preparing for the lighting of a Holiday Tree, instead of the lighting of a Christmas Tree – a term deemed too offensive and “under-inclusive” in the postmodern era of higher education. And this kind of...

Public school officials are grappling with a rising tide of profanity from America's students. A recent study compiled by the Linguistics Institute revealed that 18 percent of the words used in common, every day speaking by high school students are words that some might classify as obscene, derogatory or pornographic. Many cite the entertainment industry for this trend in speaking habits. "You've got swearing in movies and on TV. You've got pornography everywhere. You've got music lyrics loaded with slurs. This is polluting our culture and degrading our children," complained a concerned parent. Not everyone, however, is appalled. "Language must...

SENSITIVITY HAS TAKEN OVER OUR society, and nowhere more securely than in our universities. To see what has happened, consider this small fact. Half a century ago, a liberal Harvard psychologist, Gordon W. Allport, published a book, The Nature of Prejudice, that began the social science study of stereotypes. Though of course hostile to stereotypes, he allowed they might have a kernel of truth. For example, he said, fewer Jews are drunks than Irish. A remark like that could not be made at a university today except in private to trusted friends. And if you made it, you would be...

The victory of two dark-horse candidates for Dartmouth College's board of trustees this week has revived a struggle over competing visions for the future of the small Ivy League campus. Peter Robinson, who wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan and is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Todd J. Zywicki, a George Mason University law professor who contributes to a libertarian-leaning web log, ran on platforms that were scathingly critical of the administration, saying it has become too politically correct and has stifled fraternities, de-emphasized athletics, and shortchanged teaching in favor of research.

IT ISN'T often that a group of college professors is soundly and thoroughly embarrassed by a collection of mere students in an intellectual arena. But that's exactly what happened at the end of February, when the University of Alabama's Student Senate passed a sharp resolution directly opposing a heavy-handed, short-sighted and illiberal "hate speech" resolution that their Faculty Senate had already passed. The Faculty Senate's original resolution called for the creation of a series of new regulations which threatened to drastically curtail First Amendment rights at their public university. With their remarkably independent and sophisticated response, UA's students have schooled...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., February 28, 2005—In a remarkable display of intellectual independence and moral courage, the University of Alabama (UA) Student Senate last week passed a “free speech” resolution that directly opposes a “hate speech” resolution passed by UA’s Faculty Senate last fall. Recognizing that the faculty’s “hate speech” resolution was a thinly veiled call for a speech code, the students’ resolution urges the UA administration and faculty “to adopt policies that explicitly protect free speech for all students at the University of Alabama.” The students’ move comes after close consultation with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and...

Rolling back the tide of tyranny Mike S. Adams February 28, 2005 Last semester, the faculty senate at the University of Alabama (UA) passed an Orwellian speech code designed to restrict “any behavior that demeans or reduces an individual based on group affiliation or personal traits, or which promotes hate or discrimination.” Anyone armed with an 11th grade education can see that such a speech code is unconstitutional. Indeed, many of the UA “diversity initiatives” such as the Vagina Monologues would be banned under such a code, if the university had any intention of applying the code equally. Come to...