Letter: The university should review policies after terrorism

Douglas Oliver
January 14, 2015
Filed under Letters, Opinion

Many in USA and Europe are mourning the deaths of the French cartoonists who were assassinated by radical Isalmists. The cartoonist’s offenses were creating cartoons that offended the assassin’s Islamic sensibilities.

Both American and French citizens and institutions reacted by affirming the necessity of freedom of expression. In the United States, the right of freedom of expression has been protected via the 1st Amendment to the Constitution which bars governmental agencies, such as UT, from prohibiting speech that others may find offensive.

Yet, if those French cartoonists had been UT students or employees, they would have been in danger of expulsion or being fired. UT policies authorize university officials to punish UT’s students, faculty and employees who make “offensive statements, insults, epithets, or jokes” regarding religion. (UT Policy 3364-50-01 – Sexual Harassment and Other Form of Harassment policy). Thus, UT students and faculty are prohibited from displaying, perhaps even discussing, the very cartoons at issue. Further, UT’s policy applies to all UT faculty, staff, and students off campus, which spreads the speech-chilling effect.

This policy has created an environment where students are being deprived of a robust education as some UT faculty have refused to cover important, yet controversial, topics out of fear of accusations of violating UT’s overly broad and vague harassment policies. UT’s policy is so restrictive that it has earned a “red light” from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (thefire.org). It is time to abolish UT’s repressive and unconstitutional harassment policy.

— Douglas Oliver, Associate Professor (MIME)

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Comments

  • JackPumpkin

    This is an excellent point. It’s hard to imagine the Jacobs administration ever siding with free speech that is critical of religion, which is ironic given the opposing goals of conservative religion and higher education. I wonder if the post-Jacobs leadership would be any different.

    I am also curious whether the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education gets equally fired up over efforts by Christians to silence speech that represents secular and minority religious viewpoints.

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