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Students’ rights ignored by UW

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Also by Robert Phansalkar:

'Think, Respect' does neither, preempts rational action (November 14, 2007)
'Taser this' editorial tame compared to past (October 2, 2007)
Lawmakers' plan bigger problem than baggy pants (September 18, 2007)
Right-wing judicial activism fault of liberal tactics (August 31, 2007)

by Robert Phansalkar

Monday, November 6, 2006

It is a sorry state of affairs for the First Amendment on the University of Wisconsin campus.

Unless your name is Kevin Barrett and the views you espouse are so particularly virulent and politically charged that the university will dare not challenge them, you are almost certain to get the short end of the university's stick.

The latest university target: the banning of political speech in campus classrooms by students.

Political literature, which amounts to more or less of a nuisance for the average student attending lectures, is apparently a serious violation of UW policy and Wisconsin statute.

Although this policy has been on the books for years and has been essentially unenforced, the university suddenly woke up to its existence and decided that three weeks before one of the more contested elections in Wisconsin history was the perfect time to begin implementation.

The annoying flyers about Mark Green's congressional voting record apparently angered UW enough that the Student Organization Office (SOO) contacted several organizations claiming that they had violated university policy on Literature Distribution.

The policy SOO referenced in a recent e-mail to a student organization, #G-1 Policy for political campaigns on campus, claims that literature drops can be performed in the lobby space of university buildings but only for university-related activities.

The policy makes no clear or explicit mention of classrooms, nor does the policy reconcile the desirability of classrooms as leafleting places with an apparent need or interest in denying this type of speech.

Rather, the university's use of the policy in these circumstances seems bent upon protecting the rights of students when it wants to, hardly the principled approach necessary for protecting First Amendment rights.

This overbreadth issue presents a problem for student organizations that lack a clear and definitive policy regarding leafleting. When a policy simply states what is allowable speech, but not what is forbidden, organizations are left in the dark, leaving the university to pick and choose who they support.

Couple this overbreadth with the general lack of enforcement before this election, and you have got a pretty clear-cut case of selective prosecution.

However, the only consistent part of this policy is that it is not being applied solely to groups on one side of the political spectrum. All political student groups have been targeted, making this not a simple issue of content neutrality, but apparently a general dislike of student speech on campus.

This semester has been nothing short of abysmal for the university's protection of students' civil liberties. In the light of mounting criticism against the Bias Reporting Mechanisms and Free Speech Zones, and the university's odd defiance in this matter, it doesn't appear that it will be getting better any time soon.

What makes this matter even more puzzling is that the university has bizarrely defended the rights of controversial figures like Barrett and Jane Fonda, but will not go to the same extremes for students.

It is not fair to claim that the university is simply protecting the rights of one ideology, but it is fair to claim that the university has a questionable commitment to its students' rights in this regard, and the result is already rearing its head.

There is a rift developing between students and the university, and it is more than obvious to students actually probing the extent of their First Amendment rights.

Students are learning a bad lesson from the university: If you're young and political, don't speak up. While professors enjoy near-universal speech protection from the university, students will not even come close to tasting the sweet nectar of fairness.

This lesson of inconsistency is certainly one that you can disregard from the university.

All the university needs to do is find a common philosophy for its defense of speech. Either it takes the principled approach that everyone has the same rights, or it can expect much more of the same: criticism from all sides of the spectrum. Robert Phansalkar (phansalkar@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in languages and cultures of Asia and political science.

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Anonymous (November 6, 2006 @ 8:37am):

Bobby P, so you're upset that the University is stealing your right to free speech? Um, aren't you currently voicing your opinion freely in the Badger Herald?

You can't have your way all the time, my friend. Unless, however, you are a president with a rubber stamp congress. Ooh, cheap shot!