IF YOU thought you had the right to speak freely within the community of trust, think again. Under current University policies, you are free to state your opinion only so far as it aligns with the whims of the administration. Anything you say that they deem offensive, demeaning or otherwise inappropriate is strictly off-limits. In other words, fellow Wahoo, you aren't free at all.
The Discriminatory Harassment Policy of last year's Undergraduate Record forbids oral and written conduct directed against a person based on "his or her age, citizenship, color, disability, gender (whether or not the conduct is sexual in nature), national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, [or] veteran status." It lists actions that are worthy of investigation as "ridiculing one's religious beliefs," "directing racial or ethnic slurs at someone," "sending unwelcome e-mail containing sexual jokes," and, for the coup de grace, perpetrators should be immediately reported for "telling persons they are too old to understand new technology."
If you are found guilty of committing such a heinous speech crime, you may be punished by measures "up to and including termination of employment or dismissal from the University." And, the Record reassures us, the disciplinary process will be kept strictly confidential - for the best interest of all parties involved.
Just like that, our public University waves goodbye to the Bill of Rights with a wink and a nod, as it sacrifices our freedom of speech at the altar of political correctness. The University - an institution of "learning" - has criminalized some speech simply because it's offensive. And while the corpse of our academic freedom grows cold, up springs a warm and fuzzy little Academical Village that doesn't offend a soul - not even one that's too old to understand new technology.
What's more, as a censorious crusader, our University is depressingly not alone in the world of higher education. At nearly every college and University nationwide, one can find similar speech codes under the heading of "discriminatory harassment" and "sexual harassment" policies. At public Universities, these speech codes go far beyond merely enforcing sexual harassment laws, but attempt to limit free speech - which is blatantly illegal and contrary to the First Amendment. At most private institutions, such codes contradict official commitments to academic freedom and free speech.
Three key elements give these repressive speech codes their awesome gag power. First, they are overbroad and vague, so that a wide range of speech can fall under the type they prohibit. The resulting uncertainty among students about what type of things they are "allowed" to say has an immediate chilling effect on diverse discussion of ideas. The codes' second element feeds off the first - the policies are always applied with a double standard. No one is ever disciplined for the bigoted claim that "all Americans are greedy" or "all white men are racists." Certain minority groups are the sole official victims of hate speech crimes. Thirdly, the punishments for violating these codes are carried out in secrecy. Hence, officials can enforce compliance with their orthodoxies without generating the public scrutiny that would spell a quick and certain end to their illegal repression of speech.
This brilliantly concerted assault upon liberty that now has thousands of schools nationwide in its claws comes, surprisingly, from a group that formerly was a vocal civil liberties advocate. The same leftist radicals who fought so valiantly against conservative institutional censorship during the cultural revolution of the '60s have grown up. They now wield power over the very universities they once revolted against. And, for shame, they have resorted to the same strong-arm tactics of repression to establish their liberal orthodoxy on campuses that their conservative ex-enemies used against them 40 years ago.
To these battle-scarred moral crusaders who have retired their wilting flowers of peace and steaming bongs of pot, free speech apparently was just a means to achieve the ultimate end of affirmative action and welfare-driven social justice. Now that they hold power (and society still is curiously far from just), they have decided that the debate is closed. They've won, and anyone who disagrees with them is simply wrong - especially those that might hurt someone's feelings.
These traitors to liberty have long since made the decision that their worldview is correct beyond question. They have firmly resolved that politically correct campuses are more important than communities of open discussion. In doing so, they have not only betrayed a fundamental principle of our country - the right to free inquiry - but they have also insulted every last minority and woman that they purport to protect. By outlawing offensive speech, these administrators are proclaiming that women, blacks, Hispanics and gays are all too fragile to take care of themselves in a free environment under the Constitution. They are saying that minorities need high-minded censors to protect them from hurtful thoughts and dirty words.
But no matter how strong the heart of self-righteousness might thump inside the chests of college officials, we can't allow them to use censorship to advance their ideology. The best way to fight the ugliness of bigotry is to refute it with a sound arsenal of reason and a strong, tempered resolve. History shows us that punishing anyone for expressing ideas stunts intellectual growth for everyone and creates an environment of fear and inhumanity.
It is incumbent upon each of us to recognize the abuse of power and the perversion of the Constitution that our nation's college administrators are perpetrating against us every day. By knowing our rights and not allowing our elders to threaten and rebuke us in the shadows, we may begin to bring liberty back to school. For once the authoritarian leftists have been vanquished, when we all can say what we think without having to fear reprisal from authority, then will the cultural revolution of the '60s finally be complete. And only then will all of us truly be free.
(Anthony Dick is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at adick@cavalierdaily.com.)
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