The Torch
September 14, 2010
The CFN Incentive Program rewards students who advocate for liberty on campus. Here's how it works: whenever a CFN member engages in liberty-minded activism—including publishing op-eds on FIRE cases and related issues, hosting FIRE speakers, recruiting new members, and even posting FIRE widgets to a website or blog—he or she earns points. Points translate into prizes, including the grand prize of a $2500 scholarship or a technology bundle including a Macbook and an HDTV! Get started by joining the CFN here. Read Full Article
Press Release
September 7, 2010
More than three years after being expelled from Valdosta State University (VSU) for engaging in peaceful protest, former VSU student T. Hayden Barnes has won his federal civil rights lawsuit against former VSU President Ronald Zaccari. In an opinion issued late Friday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia found that because Zaccari expelled Barnes without notice or a hearing, Zaccari violated Barnes' constitutional right to due process as well as the contract created between VSU and Barnes by the student handbook. The court also found that because Zaccari ignored "clearly established" law in punishing Barnes, Zaccari did not enjoy "qualified immunity" and is personally liable for damages. Barnes had come to FIRE for help.
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Press Release
September 2, 2010
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has temporarily halted its violations of the free expression rights of an environmental health sciences professor. The faculty of Dr. James Enstrom’s department refused to reappoint him after Enstrom engaged in successful whistleblowing against a member of the department—and after many years of disagreement between Enstrom and some of his colleagues over research on air pollution. After UCLA told Enstrom he was being let go because his controversial research failed to accord with the department’s “mission,” Enstrom turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. Read Full Article
The Torch
September 2, 2010
FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for September 2010: University of Massachusetts Amherst. UMass Amherst's policy on rallies requires 24 hours' notice for any such event and, during class hours, quarantines rallies to the steps of UMass' Student Union—a tiny portion of the campus. Worse still, the policy's section on "Controversial Rallies" requires student groups wishing to hold any rally the UMass administration deems to be "controversial" to provide five days notice of the event, to limit the event to just one hour, and to provide their own security in the form of members of the student group. UMass' policy violates its students' First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly—rights which UMass is legally bound to uphold. Read Full Article
Press Release
August 31, 2010
The 2011 edition of U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges issue, released today, includes a full-page advertisement from FIRE highlighting the six colleges and universities that have earned FIRE's Red Alert distinction for being the "worst of the worst" when it comes to liberty on campus. These institutions are Bucknell University, Brandeis University, Colorado College, Johns Hopkins University, Michigan State University, and Tufts University. The advertisement also features the story of a graduate student who was nearly expelled from SUNY Binghamton for expressing his views about a faculty member he thought was responsible for social injustice. Read Full Article
The Torch
August 30, 2010
As colleges and universities across the country begin another academic year, many students, faculty, and administrators are wondering how the United States Supreme Court's June 28 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez will affect their experience on campus. Members of the general public also might be wondering what exactly the Supreme Court decided in Martinez. To help alleviate lingering confusion about what the Court's opinion in Martinez means, FIRE attorneys have prepared answers to the most frequently asked questions about the ruling.
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