It might be a big boulder on which students have expressed their thoughts over the years. Or a fence. Or a wall.
Whatever it is, universities are on thin ice if they threaten to fence them off, monitor them with cameras or even remove them in light of the current, seemingly intractable divide between the right and the left, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
For example, at James Madison University, officials denounced the “defacement and vandalism” of their Spirit Rock, because someone “forcibly” removed the word “Black” from a “Black Lives Matter” message.
That left the message “Lives Matter,” which obviously was what someone wanted.
“This defacement and vandalism does not constitute free speech and is not acceptable,” the university warned. “We stand with our black students, faculty and staff in these ongoing efforts.”
Actually, it’s more complicated, FIRE said.
“Students with dueling viewpoints have attempted to make sure their messages on these objects come out on top – including by painting over their ideological opponents’ views with their own,” the group said.
That’s free speech.
But now, in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, “universities have responded troublingly by threatening to close these areas and prosecute students who communicate disfavored views.”
FIRE said the institutions should refrain from eliminating avenues for student expression merely because some find the expression “objectionable.”
“Historically, the menagerie of campus objects students paint with their chosen messages has been surpassed only by the diversity of expression manifested through these monuments,” the organization said. “Hosting a wide array of messages, such as sorrowful mourning of departed community members to jubilant celebration of campus events, these outlets for student expression are honored traditions at their institutions.”
James Madison’s “free speech rock” has been an outlet for expression for years.
But now there’s a move toward censorship.
In addition, Kent State University officials are reviewing a complaint that “White Lives Matters” was written on its free speech rock.
FIRE has written to each university, explaining that such monuments “are public fora located in open, outdoor areas of campus that have been traditionally and intentionally unburdened by university rules restricting student use, and fully dedicated to student expression.”
Public universities are bound by the First Amendment and private universities by the promises of free speech they may have made to students and faculty.
FIRE said schools should preserve those landmarks for expressive use “even when it is difficult or unpopular to do so.”
“How exactly does fencing off these areas make campus a more tolerant place for students? Moreover, will universities seek to shut down listservs, bulletin boards, quads, and other open spaces merely because they are used to offend others?” FIRE asked.
The organization told the universities in its letters that restricting some speech could come “at the expense of its students’ First Amendment rights.”
That would mean schools “may not impose any restrictions on the viewpoints communicated by students who paint” on those landmarks.
“The act of painting and repainting the Rock, even if it covers up or alters a prior message, is expression protected by the First Amendment and may not be stifled by government actors,” FIRE said.
