Forum addresses free speech on campuses

Students were told to insult professors on Monday afternoon in Kirkbride Hall, and those professors responded by mocking them right back.

Guest speakers Lawrence White, the university's vice president and general counsel, and Ann Franke, president of Wise Results, LLC, of Washington, D.C. and national consultant on free-speech issues in higher education, led these exchanges as part of an exercise during a panel discussion on students' free-speech rights.

The speakers and the audience - which consisted of about a combined 30 students, former and current American Association of University Professor (AAUP) members, and university faculty - discussed the delicate balance between free speech on college campuses and the responsibility of those colleges to educate.

Franke challenged audience members to pair up and insult their partner's hair or shirt, but then respond to the insults by conceding a point and asking a question. A self-described, "big free speech proponent," she used the exercise to drive home her main point: that, while offensive speech exists, responding with positive action is more effective than with censorship.

White, on the other hand, recounted a past experience during his work for a, "very prominent university in the south," that led him to a different view. White said he specifically remembers a visit from a mother who informed him that, after two months of racial harassment, she planned to remove her son from school.

"We have to remember that, while we are protecting very important speech rights, speech can cause pain and create victims," he said. "Institutions have a right and an obligation to come to the aid of those victims."

Franke and White opened up the floor to questions following their prepared material, and the university's Facebook policy quickly took center stage.

Stacey Marr, a senior who attended the event as part of her "The Law and You" class, found this discussion to be the most relevant.

"As soon as [Franke] mentioned Facebook, I wondered what it was that [university officials] could really do?" Marr said.

Others echoed her confusion, but Michael Gilbert, vice president for student life, clarified the matter.

"We don't monitor Facebook or Myspace pages, if there are any of those left," Gilbert said. "[Questionable] content must cross a threshold —in that there is a violation of university standards."

Whether regarding Facebook, racial intolerance or dorm-room drama, students' first amendment rights are very relevant, White said.

"Is there ever speech that is so insulting, so inflammatory, so dangerous that a different set of rules apply?" he asked..