🚀 go-pugleaf

darrenr@arbld.unimelb.edu.au (Darren Reed) writes:

[...]
>I guess what I'm saying is, even though the institution has questionable
>ability to conrol what you say, surely they must have some right about
>whether or not they wish to be associated with it, even if this means
>taking measures such as disapproving of certain areas of research.
[...]

Universities have proper procedures for indicating their degree of
support for a line of research. For example, they only give you a
university degree if you follow the right steps.

I know of no proper procedure for threatening lawsuits or censoring posts
to Usetnet because the university doesn't like a line of research.

Here is a excerpt from "Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of
Students", the main statement of student academic freedom in the U.S.
It is a policy statement, not a legal document, but it has been
endorsed by most of the major academic organizations in the U.S.:

===========================
B. Freedom of Inquiry and Expression

  1. Students and student organizations should be free to examine and
discuss all questions of interest to them, and to express opinions
publicly and privately. They should always be free to support causes
by orderly means which do not disrupt the regular and essential
operation of the institution. At the same time, it should be made
clear to the academic and the larger community that in their public
expressions or demonstrations students or student organizations speak
only for themselves.

  2. Students should be allowed to invite and to hear any person of
their own choosing. Those routine procedures required by an
institution before a guest speaker is invited to appear on campus
should be designed only to insure that there is orderly scheduling of
facilities and adequate preparation for the event, and that the
occasion is conducted in a manner appropriate to an academic
community. The institutional control of campus facilities should not
be used as a device of censorship. It should be made clear to the
academic and larger community that sponsorship of guest speakers does
not necessarily imply approval or endorsement of the views expressed,
either by the sponsoring group or the institution.
========================================


- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/academic/student.freedoms.aaup">
academic/student.freedoms.aaup
=================</a>
* Student Freedoms (AAUP)

Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main
U.S. statement on student academic freedom.

=================
=================

If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command
   gopher gopher.eff.org

These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.77.172.4), and then:

  cd  /pub/CAF/academic
  get student.freedoms.aaup

To get the file(s) by email, send email to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
Include the line(s):

  connect ftp.eff.org
  cd  /pub/CAF/academic
  get student.freedoms.aaup
-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent any organization; this is just me.
 = Email: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
 = URL:   <ftp://ftp.cs.uiuc.edu/pub/kadie/>