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The Right to Be Rude

I love being able to make update posts. Remember this story from a while back? Here are the facts of the situation, for those of you with an aversion to clicking links...

The Volokh Conspiracy has been blowing up today with posts about a controversy at San Francisco State University. The whole mess stems from one of my favorite parts of campus life, the student protest. Here's what went down...

The College Republicans "offense" took place on October 17, 2006, when they held an anti-terrorism protest in SFSU'’s Malcolm X Plaza. During the protest, several members of the group stepped on butcher paper they had painted to resemble the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah. Unbeknownst to the protesters, the flags they had copied contain the word "Allah" written in Arabic script.

The CRs were charged with violations of university policy for "attempts to incite violence and create a hostile environment" and "actions of incivility" in violation of the Standards for Student Conduct. The investigation portion of this drum head has ended and now the complaint is being sent to the Student Organization Hearing Panel for review" and "possible disciplinary proceedings."

Well, the wheels of justice have churned away (slowly as usual) and we've got some results. The CRs were cleared at the review panel, but they ended up filing a lawsuit because the civility code had a chilling effect on future speech. A federal magistrate has ruled the "civility" expectation in the student handbook unconstitutional. The intimidation and harassment rules are still in effect, as they should be (IF they are applied fairly). Overall, I'd call this a victory for free speech on campuses.

Full post as published by Eminent Domain on November 10, 2007 (boomark / email).