With a tip of the hat to NRO's
Phi Beta Cons, check out this bit from
ACTAblog:
Worth noting: NKU may have sung the praises of free expression as a means of distancing itself from Jacobsen's actions. But NKU also has a speech code on the books, one that, ironically, speaks quite directly to the assumptions Jacobsen made about her right not to be offended. FIRE gives NKU an ominous "red light rating" for its policies on expression, noting that the school defines punishable harassment as, among other things, "making an offensive coarse utterance, gesture or display, addressing abusive language to any person." That's just about anything the beholder wants it to be--and in the case of Sally Jacobsen, it was the anti-abortion crosses dotting a campus lawn. As Jacobsen herself put it, that display was a "slap in the face" to women.
If NKU is serious about preventing behavior such as Jacobsen's in the future--if the school really wants to make good on its (legally required) promise to honor free expression--it could begin by repealing its speech code. NKU might also consider providing some much needed civic education to all faculty, administrators, students, and staff. People who know their rights and responsibilities are a lot less likely to act as Jacobsen did.
These speech codes are terribly confusing and deliberately vague. Administrators think that like obscenity, they'll know "bad speech" when they see it. That isn't an effective policy, it is a recipe for disaster like Jacobsen...
