How loosely worded is the
University of New Mexico’s
sexual harassment policy? Its ban on “displaying sexually
suggestive objects, pictures, cartoons, or posters” has just one
exception—for “art displayed in museums”—and even then “the
situation will be evaluated for appropriateness.” Last week
Samantha Harris, an attorney at the civil libertarian Foundation
for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), pointed
out one consequence of a restriction so broad: The
university’s own Women’s Resource Center was violating it.
September 29–Oct 2 is “Sex Week” at UNM—a weeklong
series of programs for students including “Negotiating Successful
Threesomes,” “O-Face Oral” and “BJs and Beyond.” Sex Week is
sponsored in part by the university’s Women’s Resource Center. Sex
Week also violates the university’s own speech codes, since even
the titles of the workshops—and thus any Sex Week promotional
materials—are “sexually suggestive.”
At the time Harris was writing, the university was defending the
event against offended conservatives by invoking the value of free
expression. Harris offered the obvious response: “If UNM truly
believes what it is saying…why does it maintain
unconstitutional speech codes that prohibit exactly the kind of
speech at issue here?”
If the university was listening, it learned the wrong lesson.
Harris’ colleague Susan Kruth
picks up the story:
UNM released
a statement on Wednesday apologizing for “the inclusion of
topics that are sensational and controversial.” Vice President for
Student Affairs Eliseo Torres promises in the statement, “We will
do a better job in the future of vetting and selecting programs
offered through campus groups.”
Needless to say, free speech does not require a public
university to sponsor such an event, as opposed to merely allowing
it to take place. But it’s dispiriting to watch the college plunge
from praising free speech to apologizing for being
“controversial.” (God forbid that there
be controversy on campus.) This clearly isn’t an
institution on the verge of rethinking its rules.
On the bright side, I haven’t seen any reports of anyone being
charged with harassment for posting a Sex Week flier on a bulletin
board.
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/1s8omrv
via IFTTT