Rice's free speech questioned

By Michelle Jin     3/19/09 7:00pm

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a non-profit organization that focuses on civil liberties in schools across the country, criticized Rice on March 9 for restricting freedom of expression in its Information Technology policy. FIRE gave Rice a "red light" rating, and on its Web site, the group stated that "[a] red light institution has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech." In an article on Rice's protocols, FIRE cited a Rice IT policy, among five other policies, as an example that threatened free speech on campus.

The policy prohibits "[t]ransmitting unsolicited ... material which explicitly or implicitly refers to sexual conduct" and "[t]ransmitting ... unsolicited information that contains profane language or panders to bigotry, sexism, or other forms of prohibited discrimination."

According to FIRE, e-mails from organizations from a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender student group advertising a "coming out" event or from a group publicizing a speech by an opponent of illegal immigration could be deemed as inappropriate under this policy, and thus be blocked.

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Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said he disagreed with FIRE's claims on Rice's limit of the freedom of expression.

"FIRE takes a very narrow approach to the issue of free speech," Forman said. "In their view, if the policy allows one to imagine an abuse by an administrator that would inappropriately limit free speech, then that policy is as bad as an actual abuse."

On the contrary, Forman said, Rice is committed to promoting free speech even when people would find it controversial.

"Universities thrive on an atmosphere of free and open exchange of ideas, and that includes ideas that some might find distasteful," Forman said. "We believe in the principle that the best response to offensive speech is more speech. The university has a firm commitment to diversity, and diversity by its nature depends on an atmosphere in which all ideas are welcome."

Forman gave an example regarding a controversial Thresher Backpage section run in September 2006. Some students found that Backpage's content, which consisted of satirized racist jokes, offensive and had called for disciplinary action against the editors. Rather than carrying out disciplinary action, the administration held a forum where students could discuss their reactions and what forms of expression they thought were appropriate to have on campus, Forman said.

But Forman is not alone in his criticism, as some students on campus also disagreed with FIRE's claims.

"The school tries [to support freedom of speech on campus]," Jones College senior Sarah Farid said. "They have a lot of forums, lectures and debates."

Others believe that while the university may control some of the information around campus, freedom of expression still thrives.

"I think the administration here censors a little bit more as opposed to a public university," Baker College sophomore Meenakshi Awasthi said. "But this university attracts a lot of diversity. Students here are outspoken, and if they want to say something, they'll get it done."

FIRE also claimed that the wording of this specific IT policy allows for arbitrary enforcement by administrators.

"While Rice would almost certainly say that it would never enforce the policy against the types of expression described above, the fact is that the policy on its face prohibits the expression." FIRE said on its Web site.

However, Forman said that in addition to the actual policy statement, there are supplemental documents that clarify the policy, like IT's Common Policy Questions and Answers document, which give examples of what would be deemed as appropriate or inappropriate by the school.

"They looked at the clause of the policy pertaining to offensive expression and said that it was too vague," Forman said. "But in each case, whether it's the IT policy or the policy concerning harassment, there are sections of the policy that provide a guiding philosophy, and even some examples, that make completely clear what our perspective is."

Forman added that there are cases in which the university had determined that forms of expression were inappropriate, as well.

"There are times when we respond to inappropriate expression," Forman said. "We reserve the right to react to behavior or expression which is inconsistent with our community values, emphasizing that our community values include a free and open exchange of ideas that some people might find offensive."

An example of such a reaction occured nine years ago regarding a Sid Richardson College meeting minutes. The minutes contained sexual humor which targeted specific individuals in a way that the school saw as inappropriate, and disciplinary action was taken, according to Forman.

FIRE has given a "red light" rating for a majority of the schools that it reviewed. In Texas, Rice, the University of Texas, Texas Tech Universtiy, the University of Houston and Texas A&M University, among others, have all received "red light" ratings from the group.

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