NC Win for First Amendment

It’s not every day that we find something within the
University of North Carolina system to applaud. A recent
development at Appalachian State University gives reason for
us to take notice and also hope that other schools in North
Carolina follow suit.

Just a few short months since the
Pope Center and the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education released its report on “The
State of the First Amendment in the University of North
Carolina System,”  Appalachian State has eliminated
one of its policies that was heavily criticized by the study.
After reading the study, Paul Funderbunk, a graduate student
and president of Appalachian State’s ACLU chapter, contacted
school officials to ask that they change their policies
inhibiting free speech.

Administrators saw the good
sense in Funderburk’s position and repealed the school’s
“harassment” policy on March 22.

That policy, enforced
by the school’s Department of Housing and Residence Life,
stated  “[b]igotry has no place within the residence hall
community, nor does the right to denigrate another human
being. … Harassment or the use of abusive language, insults,
taunts, or challenges directed toward another person are
prohibited.”

FIRE President Greg Lukianoff, who wrote
the report, said Appalachian State’s policy was
“unconstitutionally overbroad,” meaning that it went much
further in restricting freedom of speech than legitimate
efforts to prevent harassment could.  Appalachian State’s
policy “contradicts both Supreme Court precedent and the
federal government’s interpretation of the relevant harassment
laws,” he stated.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that
for student conduct to be considered harassment, the actions
must be “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that
it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational
opportunity or benefits.”  In making students subject to
penalty for isolated “abusive language, insults, taunts, or
challenges,” the school had gone far beyond the Court’s
definition of harassment and infringed upon speech protected
under the First Amendment.

Commenting on the decision
to revoke the policy, Lukianoff said, “App State’s policies
are not perfect, but the university has taken a tremendous
step forward.” He added, “The speech code that was just
repealed was definitely the worst offender among its policies.
We look forward to seeing App State – and the entire UNC
system – take even more steps to guarantee students’ precious
rights.”

Appalachian State was not alone in having
policies that, according to FIRE’s expert analysis, violate
the First Amendment. Almost every school in the system has at
least one speech code or other policy that stifles free speech
or expression in some form. For example, at UNC-Asheville,
students are, according to the report, forced “to profess
their belief in an officially approved ideology” in its
Student Creed. UNC-Chapel Hill, which has a history of
religious discrimination, has a non-discrimination policy that
says groups cannot discriminate among its members.

This
is not the first time this year a UNC system school has
reversed its policies that hinder free speech. UNC-Greensboro
in March removed restrictions on where students and faculty
members can speak freely. According to the News and
Record, UNC-Greensboro’s previous policy allowed two
areas where students could speak freely.

Appalachian
State’s decision should serve as a beacon for other UNC system
schools to repeal their free speech inhibiting policies. The
action taken there shows that it is possible for well-informed
students to get their schools to back away from policies that
make it dangerous for people in the university community to
express their views.  Doing so sometimes offends people,
but that is not nearly so bad as a campus where students and
professors fear that any statement might land them in trouble.


University officials at other campuses in the system
should also take note of the decision by Appalachian State’s
leaders and review their own policies and make the appropriate
changes.

During the short time that UNC President
Erskine Bowles has been in office, two UNC institutions have
taken steps toward restoring free speech on campus.  This
may be a positive sign that new leadership is already having a
beneficial impact.

Most likely, though, any additional
change that occurs across the UNC system will be student-led.
So here’s to hoping that there are more students like Paul
Funderburk in the University of North Carolina system who
recognize the wrongs of policies that limit free speech and
will work towards abolishing them.

Shannon
Blosser is a staff writer for the John
W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Chapel
Hill.