What part of the word Liberal don't you understand? What first amendment? What second amendment?

Johns Hopkins Bans Conservative Student Paper


In a move that's been called "shameful viewpoint discrimination," officials at Johns Hopkins University banned the distribution of a conservative student newspaper in dorms - while allowing other papers to continue distributing there.

The May issue of the student paper The Carrollton Record (TCR) featured a cover story objecting to a recent campus appearance by pornographic film director Chi Chi LaRue. The photo on the cover depicted transvestite LaRue along with members of the Baltimore university's Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA) student group, which hosted the event.

According to Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), DSAGA members were apparently displeased to see their pictures on the newspaper's front page, and some have filed harassment charges against TCR staffers.

On May 14, approximately 600 copies of TCR that had been distributed to the library the previous day disappeared. TCR editor Jered Ede attempted to report the theft, but a security officer and the Dean of Student Life both said that the missing papers did not constitute theft, Ede told FIRE.

Ede then learned that the newspaper could no longer be distributed in dorms, and that administrators had confiscated 300 copies. Previously, TCR and numerous other publications - including the liberal Hopkins Donkey - had regularly been distributed in dorms, and some dorms even have distribution racks expressly for this purpose.

TCR staffers contacted FIRE, which wrote in protest to Johns Hopkins (JHU) president William Brody on May 19.

The protest stated in part: "FIRE strongly urges John Hopkins University to revoke its viewpoint-based ban on newspaper distribution rights in dormitories, to react accordingly to the theft of 600 copies of The Carrollton Record, and to refuse to consider harassment charges on students whose only ‘offense' was to express controversial ideas in a newspaper."

Johns Hopkins counsel Frederick Savage defended the school's actions by saying that student publications are subject to a policy demanding that posters and fliers be approved by the Office of Residential Life before being posted in dorms.

Savage wrote to FIRE: "Although it is not explicitly stated in the policy, by longstanding practice the Office of Residential Life has applied the [posting] policy to student publications."

Said Lukianoff: "This is a shocking and disturbing admission, if true. Not only would such a policy subject student newspapers to prior official review, but it appears to have been selectively enforced to silence unpopular opinions. By granting its officials the unfettered power to ‘approve' newspapers, JHU is giving them the power to arbitrarily censor."

Savage's letter to FIRE also stated that since TCR "is free of charge and there is no limitation on the number of copies one can take, any charge of theft would be difficult to sustain."

In a press release, FIRE countered: "Newspaper theft, however, is a prevalent form of mob censorship, which should be anathema at any institution that values free speech. Furthermore, after a 1994 rash of newspaper thefts at colleges across Maryland - including JHU - the state passed a law making newspaper theft illegal."

The release also said the university was "engaging in shameful viewpoint discrimination and denying its students freedom of the press."

Lukianoff added: "Freedom of the press and the freedom to distribute literature are vital liberties that should not be denied to JHU students. Theft and confiscation of a newspaper threaten the very marketplace of ideas upon which a university depends and should be condemned, not accepted.

"FIRE will continue to fight until student press freedom is safe from administrators who encourage or permit censorship to take place. JHU's indifference to freedom of the press is disgraceful. JHU students deserve better."

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars and journalists from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at U.S. colleges and universities.

It seems like so-called liberal arts colleges don't have much use for conservative opinion. On the other hand, the few clearly conservative colleges in the U.S. have zero tolerance for anything that is not conservative. The question that comes to my mind, and potentially worth discussing, is why are the preponderance of colleges and universities liberal, and so few conservative?

Seems to me if the kids didn't want their picture splattered all over the front page hanging out with a transvestite porn star, maybe they ought not hang out with transvestite porn stars...

I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are of a private school restricting the free speech rights of students, but either way, it sounds pretty ridiculous to me.

Fish on...

Todd

The beautiful irony will be when the TCR folks use the ACLU to sue on their behalf.

Of course after they win they'll go back to villifying the ACLU as a far left winged fringe element.