Freedom of Speech under attack again?
Have you heard? University of Illinois employees- including faculty- are now forbidden to wear political buttons or park cars with bumber stickers supporting a particular candidate. They are additionally banned from attending on-campus political rallies in favor of a specific candidate.
Those who choose to do so in protest (or just in the interest of civic participation) will now be in violation of the university system's ethics policy.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/24/buttons "Beware the Bumper Police" explains that this is a sharp departure from past policies around the country which permitted individual political expression, while banning the use of department funds for the support of a particular candidate. Certainly, nobody would support the diversion of science lab grant money for the Obama campaign, and of course, it would be inappropriate to have a university reimburse their staff for making a donation to a particular campaign.
But this official directive is both chilling and monumentally important in the ongoing battle for freedom of expression in the US. When we lose the freedom to express ourselves during an election, what will be next? And when universities become closed to dialogue and civic debate, where will we protest at all?
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Comments (2)
The restriction on speech you describe is another example of how freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment has been turned on its head: You can't freely express you views if your views might challenge the views of some one else.
Those who would prevent public and academic forums from being "marketplaces of ideas" are also those who insist that free market capitalism should be free of government regulation.
Thanks for your blog.
Posted by W B Daniels | September 27, 2008 8:57 AM
It is outrageous that faculty on a university campus, which practically by definition is a bastion of political expression, of the cultivation of respectful debate, and a place where the free flow of divergent political thought is not only protected but encouraged and drawn out by faculty, should be prevented from exercising their own rights as citizens!
Posted by Aralena Leroy | September 28, 2008 2:18 PM