Spring Break
National incidents shine spotlight on free speech
Issue date: 10/4/07
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"Students at Hopkins should have as many free speech rights as their counterparts at public institutions," Harris said. "Hopkins claims to value free speech, so to deny its students those basic rights is hypocritical and immoral."
"Private schools have the right not to follow the First Amendment. Just because they have that right doesn't mean they should use it," Lazerowitz said. "We're a university whose motto is 'The Truth Shall You Free.' This means that any truth should be expressed."
The Black and Blue Jay, the University's humor newspaper, has had no recent problems with administration. Editor-in-chief Mike Brooks said, "We are the most uncensored paper on campus because we can print curse words, which is reflective of the collegiate lifestyle," he said. "I feel that they can use us as a flag to say 'look at what we're allowed to print."
But Brooks noted that as a satirical paper, the Blue Jay can get away with more. "People know to take what we say with a grain of salt, whereas a paper like the Colorado State's would be taken more seriously."
According to Brooks, most censorship comes from fellow students because the paper's self-censorship is reflective of its awareness of the repercussions of its actions. "There are certain things we do not touch that abide by personal and social norms," he said.
Sue Lee, president of Zeniada, Hopkins' literary magazine agreed.
"We do a lot of self-auditing." While the magazine prohibits nudity in artwork, Lee said that she would defend controversial pieces if the quality of writing was high enough.
"There have been no ramifications for content that I know of. They might limit funding for the future, but I don't know," she said.
In Barbara Susan Papish v. Board of Curators of the University of Missouri, the Supreme Court determined that an article entitled "Mother[explicative] Acquitted" which ran in a state university paper was, in fact, constitutionally protected speech.
In the majority ruling, the Court stated that, "the mere dissemination of ideas - no matter how offensive to good taste - on a state university campus may not be shut off in the name alone of 'conventions of decency.'"
"Private schools have the right not to follow the First Amendment. Just because they have that right doesn't mean they should use it," Lazerowitz said. "We're a university whose motto is 'The Truth Shall You Free.' This means that any truth should be expressed."
The Black and Blue Jay, the University's humor newspaper, has had no recent problems with administration. Editor-in-chief Mike Brooks said, "We are the most uncensored paper on campus because we can print curse words, which is reflective of the collegiate lifestyle," he said. "I feel that they can use us as a flag to say 'look at what we're allowed to print."
But Brooks noted that as a satirical paper, the Blue Jay can get away with more. "People know to take what we say with a grain of salt, whereas a paper like the Colorado State's would be taken more seriously."
According to Brooks, most censorship comes from fellow students because the paper's self-censorship is reflective of its awareness of the repercussions of its actions. "There are certain things we do not touch that abide by personal and social norms," he said.
Sue Lee, president of Zeniada, Hopkins' literary magazine agreed.
"We do a lot of self-auditing." While the magazine prohibits nudity in artwork, Lee said that she would defend controversial pieces if the quality of writing was high enough.
"There have been no ramifications for content that I know of. They might limit funding for the future, but I don't know," she said.
In Barbara Susan Papish v. Board of Curators of the University of Missouri, the Supreme Court determined that an article entitled "Mother[explicative] Acquitted" which ran in a state university paper was, in fact, constitutionally protected speech.
In the majority ruling, the Court stated that, "the mere dissemination of ideas - no matter how offensive to good taste - on a state university campus may not be shut off in the name alone of 'conventions of decency.'"
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