The Campus "Free Speech" Deception · 13 November 2007
Despite what Lee
Bollinger and his Leftist ilk would have us think, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad’s visit did not improve the dire state of free speech and
academic freedom at Columbia University because his invitation to the
present-day Hitler did not occur in a vacuum. Today’s university
presidents and administrations take pride in their efforts to
manufacture policies, plan activities, and fund projects that welcome
the Ahmadinejads of the world, while barring the ROTC and the
Minutemen. While Columbia’s actions outraged millions, countless
universities across the country hold less publicized – but equally
abhorrent – events and programs that are leading to the degradation of
America’s once-esteemed university system.
When I received an official email from the Georgia Institute of
Technology Dean of Students announcing a campus forum called “How Free
is Your Speech on Campus?” sponsored by Finding Common Ground I was momentarily encouraged. Was Finding Common Ground,
an official Georgia Tech program initiated by President G. Wayne
Clough, finally going to tackle an issue brought up over a year ago as
a result of a lawsuit for free speech and religious liberty on campus?
I attended the event, and from the start it was evident that this “free
speech forum” was going to be like all the ones before it –
administrators dodging questions and creating a greater sense of
confusion about the policies, and students leaving thinking that they
would be typecast as pariahs by their peers and administrators if they
stood up for free speech. Not wasting any time, a student asked the
moderator, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, a
question regarding the effects of the lawsuit towards the beginning of
the program. The moderator claimed no knowledge of the suit and moved
on to a tangential topic.
It is hard to believe that the moderator, a First Amendment and
academic freedom “specialist” and author of a forthcoming book on
campus speech, knew nothing about what may be the most prominent
current higher education lawsuit in the country. But then again, the Technique –
Georgia Tech’s student newspaper – also glosses over the problems,
summarizing the event with the proclamation that, “Tech does not have a
particular reputation for stepping on students’ rights.”
Either the editors of the paper missed this “minor” detail or they
adequately served their role as a mouthpiece of the Institute’s
administration, which obviously believes in sweeping problems under the
rug. In March 2006, Ruth Malhotra and I filed a federal civil rights
lawsuit against the Institute challenging four unconstitutional
policies. Time and again we had been censored, stifled, and intimated
by Institute officials simply for expressing our opinions on public
issues. Our mainstream conservative ideas were treated with hostility
and contempt by administrators who saw our expressive activities as
hurdles to their own programs and favored groups highlighting their
narrow political and personal agendas. Instead of addressing the
central issues of the case or even trying to inspect their policies
objectively, Georgia Tech remains loyal to these unconstitutional
policies that continue to detrimentally impact students. Nothing will
change as long as the Institute maintains that the policies are
acceptable. The September 7th Technique reported
the ridiculous conclusion of a constitutionally-challenged
administration: “Members of the GSS [Graduate Student Senate] met with
Office of Legal Affairs and their consensus was that the policy was
fine.” I’m sure it was.
As if things couldn’t get worse, President Clough has been using his power, time and school resources to further develop Finding Common Ground, an initiative that was started in response to our lawsuit.
According to the Finding Common Ground website (www.fcg.gatech.edu):
The students of Georgia Tech created Finding Common Ground in 2006
for the purpose of initiating a continuing culture of dialogue to
ensure the inclusion of as many voices as possible in discussions of
issues that affect both the campus community and society at large.
According to meeting minutes from an Executive Board meeting from
August 2006, Clough proposed, “We will initiate a program called “Finding Common Ground”.
We want people to be able to express their views and to know that it is
OK to disagree as long as they respect others’ right to express their
views.”
Does this sound like free speech to you? The first part – maybe – but
the qualifier tells the true tale of censorship. It is clear that there
is an inherent and fundamental flaw in the understanding of the First
Amendment that has led to a lack of respect for students’ right to free
expression. Nowhere in the First Amendment do we find an “as long as no
one gets their feelings hurt clause.” It is a contortion of reality
that thrives on college campuses, enabling administrators to intimidate
students and further promote their own one-sided agenda in the name of
“respecting others’ views.”
Is this a source of fulfillment and pride for a university president?
In a subsequent meeting of the Executive Board on November 21, 2006,
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Academic Affairs, Dr.
Anderson Smith, made remarks on behalf of the President and said that
the “President is pleased and excited about the success of the Finding Common Ground event.”
For the president to be thrilled with Finding Common Ground’s work, the initiative must have had a tremendous impact on campus. In reality, Finding Common Ground in its inaugural year only consumed Institute resources without coming close to breaking even. The first Finding Common Ground
events included a program called GT Listens, three communications
training sessions, and a speech by Maya Angelou, who highlighted
“diversity” and spoke about her life. Angelou’s visit was such a high
priority for President Clough that he even canceled his deposition in our lawsuit in order to participate.
At the end of the day, Georgia Tech spent $100,000 on this program they
started in response to the lawsuit, but they have failed to address the
merits of the case, even when they are specifically asked about it.
Funding for Finding Common Ground came from a variety of
resources including the Student Government Association, – student
activity fees – the Residence Hall Association, Georgia Tech Student
Foundation, Auxiliary Services’ BuzzFunds – profits from the Buzz
Trademark, and the Alumni Association Parents Fund.
This year Finding Common Ground is hosting three “Taboo Topics” forums, a scavenger hunt, meal discussion groups, a mural project, and a speaker. Finding Common Ground
has ambitious goals and a host of projects lined up for this year. How
many more Institute resources are they going to pour into this program?
Within one month of the new fall semester, Finding Common Ground had already received $10,000 from Student Government Association to be spent on facilitators, as reported in the September 7th Technique.
The glaring double-standard of free speech on campus rears its ugly
head in the use of student activity fee appropriation as well. While Finding Common Ground
receives large amounts of student activity fees, how many student
groups are being denied or scared away because of a policy that bans
the funding of religious and political activities? If Finding Common Ground
can receive thousands of dollars for facilitators to hold programs,
such as "Cultural Pride: Uniting or Dividing" than maybe Geaux to the
Gulf, a charitable rebuild project in Louisiana sponsored by Campus
Christian Fellowship, would not have to be put through the wringer –
forced to explain that no religious activities would go on and that all
students were welcomed to volunteer regardless of religion – every time
they requested money for travel expenses.
It is obvious that university presidents are faced with making many
difficult decisions and must balance a busy schedule. The school’s
integrity and students’ well-being and constitutional rights should top
their list of priorities. With academic freedom lawsuits being filed
from coast to coast, the public is finally learning about the egregious
treatment of students on campus both within and outside the classroom.
In some cases, university presidents have used their position to ensure
that the school comes out on top and remains an icon of academic
excellence and a highly desirable destination.
In October 2006, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit on
behalf of Emily Brooker who as a student at Missouri State University
was persecuted by the school’s social work department for not signing a
letter that was going to be sent to the state legislature in support of
homosexual adoption. Within two weeks, the university settled and
President Michael T. Nietzel launched an internal investigation into
the department.
In December 2006 at the University of Georgia, the ADF and the
Christian Legal Society filed suit on behalf of a Christian fraternity
that was kicked off campus for discriminating on the basis of religion.
President Michael Adams and the administration treated the situation
with the appropriate gravity and within one day reinstated the group’s
status and pledged to review their policy.
In May 2007 at the University of Colorado – Boulder, Professor Ward
Churchill’s career of academic fraud was brought to a halt when
President Hank Brown recommended his termination. President Brown’s
decisive action was validated in July 2007 when the Board of Regents
concurred. President Brown did what was right in order to encourage,
preserve, and protect professional integrity and standards.
Now if only Georgia Tech President, G. Wayne Clough, would take
notice of the commendable actions of these three leaders. Perhaps then
this 18-month-old lawsuit could finally be resolved to the satisfaction
of the U.S Constitution.
Finding Common Ground reeks of political correctness and a
social agenda meant to further scare students away from expressing
their opinions freely. These programs are designed to make the
university appear as if they are actively addressing problematic
situations on campus, but instead they make a mockery of the school and
never come close to achieving solutions.
The problems are vast and what appear to some as isolated incidents are
simply one symptom of a systemic problem plaguing many universities.
They are not all as grandiose as a university president’s invitation to
a killer of American troops and a sponsor of worldwide terrorism, but
they are very serious and need to be challenged. University presidents
can counter what Glenn Beck calls an “academic epidemic” by remaining
true to the school’s mission and remembering that they are being held
accountable for their actions.
Orit Sklar is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology,
where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.
While at Georgia Tech, she served as the President of the Jewish
Student Union – Hillel, board member of the College Republicans, and
founder of Jackets for Israel. Orit has been involved in the
conservative movement and the quest for academic freedom both within
and beyond Georgia Tech, and is currently co-plaintiff in a federal
civil rights lawsuit challenging Georgia Tech’s unconstitutional
policies. Orit is also co-Founder of RightFX (www.rightfx.com), a
company specializing in using design to communicate ideas effectively.
Orit can be contacted at oritsklar@gmail.com.
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