YOU CAN’T SAY THAT
CREEPY POLICIES ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES
Higher education is becoming ground zero for testing out forms of censorship that propel discrimination and instill fear by silencing students’ viewpoints that do not conform to narratives on campus. While under the guise of being inclusive and welcoming, roughly 456 universities across the United States, including UW-Stout and UW-River Falls have Bias Incident Reporting systems in place.1 These reporting channels encourage everyone within the campus community to monitor the climate by reporting any incident that they deem is an act of bias or hate.
Once an incident has been anonymously reported, university members trained in bias incident prevention and response determine the appropriate response. However, sometimes repercussive actions are being taken in violation of a student’s right to freedom of speech. So rather than creating an atmosphere of inclusivity, it’s leading students to self-censor, fearful that at any given time what they say could be reported.
For example, a recent lawsuit against Oklahoma State University is challenging its policies, including a harassment policy so vague it’s causing students to be afraid to express opinions about religion, politics, and cultural issues out of fear that another student will report them. 2 Yes, it’s becoming normal for campuses to push the mindset that one should be offended by the opinions of others they disagree with and take action to silence them.
The prospect of a student standing up to a university can seem daunting, expensive, and time-consuming. Most students don’t take action for a number of reasons: fear, awkwardness, and wanting that diploma by graduation. Speech First is an organization that is fighting for the freedom of speech on campuses by supporting students that want to fight for that freedom. They do this through advocacy, litigation, and education.
With all that being said, don’t just take our word for it. What follows is an interview conducted by Street Level Radio with the Executive Director of Speech First, Cherise Trump (no relation to that Trump), on her experience with attacks on free speech on university campuses. Read the interview here.