FIRE to Colleges: Happy Constitution Day! Now Respect Free Speech Already

The Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education celebrated Constitution Day by mailing letters
to 300 different colleges warning them that they are violating the
First Amendment—and could face lawsuits if they don’t reform
soon.

According to
FIRE:

Colleges that wish to bring their policies into compliance with
the First Amendment are urged to contact FIRE. FIRE offers
resources such as its guidebook for college administrators,Correcting
Common Mistakes in Campus Speech Policies, a
bound version of which is included in every certified letter sent
today. All consultations and resources are provided to colleges
free of charge, in keeping with FIRE’s charitable mission. …

As the letter details, lawsuits will be filed against public
colleges maintaining unconstitutional speech codes in each federal
circuit. After each victory by ruling or settlement, FIRE will
target another school in the same circuit—sending a message that
unless public colleges obey the law, they will be sued.

The letters are part of FIRE’s recent campaign, announced
in July, which seeks to persuade colleges to rescind
policies that violate the First Amendment. The campaign is more
aggressive than FIRE’s usual tactics: The organization intends to
actively file suit against institutions that shirk their
Constitutional duty to protect the free speech rights of students
and faculty. FIRE already sued Ohio University, Citrus College,
Chicago State University, and Iowa State University.

FIRE President Greg Lukianoff is the author of an excellent new
short book, Freedom from Speech,
which argues that the American people are increasingly installing
buffers against inadvertent exposure to ideas that offend them
(trigger warnings, for instance). College campuses are at fault for
nurturing this unhealthiest of modern mindsets, and FIRE’s efforts
to combat them—in both the legal and philosophical senses—should be
celebrated by all truly progressive people.