Public Domain The First Amendment applies to public colleges and universities. But that hasn’t stopped one public college in my home state of Massachusetts, UMass Lowell, from instituting a policy that blatantly restricts the free speech rights of students and staff alike.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) highlighted UMass Lowell’s “acceptable use” policy for its monthly series spotlighting egregious free speech violations on campuses. This policy applies to all school-provided computers, but also any networks and/or services connected to the university, such as email or campus wifi. It provides the use of any such technologies to transmit or access “offensive material.”
This is deeply problematic and constitutionally suspect. After all, what, exactly, constitutes “offensive?”
For example, is a student who receives right-wing news sources in their email inbox violating it? It’s safe to say that many of the views commonly expressed in conservative media are considered “hate speech” by […]
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