May 6, 2014

Virginia North Carolina End Speech Limitations At Public Colleges





[From article]
On April 4, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed into law a bill unanimously passed by the House of Delegates and the Senate, which turns outdoor areas on the state's public college and university campuses into what the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, calls "public forums."
In other words, student speech will not be limited to the tiny "free speech zones" that, as FIRE documents, restrict student speech in "1 in 6 of America's 400 top colleges" in this land of the free and home of the brave.




[. . .]
"North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill granting public university students in the state facing non-academic disciplinary charges the right to an attorney" ("North Carolina Becomes First State to Guarantee College Students' Right to Attorney," www.thefire.org, Aug. 23, 2013).
Explained FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley: "Students across America are regularly tried in campus courts for serious offenses like theft, harassment, and even rape. Being labeled a felon and kicked out by your college carries serious, life-altering consequences.
"Because the stakes are so high, students should have the benefit of an attorney to ensure the hearing is conducted fairly and by the rules."





http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff041714.php3#.U2cDmd0--yM

Jewish World Review April 17, 2014 / 17 Nissan, 5774
Speech on public college campuses liberated in one state
By Nat Hentoff

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