Cal State Long Beach was given a red-light rating due to its unclear sexual harassment policies which are vaguely written and could possibly incriminate certain conversations and protests held on-campus. Going even further, policies instituted by the Office of Equity and Diversity allow for derogatory drawings or cartoons to also be punishable, if so determined by the university administration.
It may be easy to ignore a policy that doesn’t seem to affect you in the moment; however, the unclear nature of these policies could become unexpected setbacks for students attempting to exercise their First Amendment right on campus.
Have I ever been censored on campus? No. However, I believe it’s necessary for students to know and exercise their First Amendment rights. It’s important for the campus population to realize how much power administrators have when it comes to free speech.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE, rated CSULB poorly for its free speech policies which is alarming. This means university officials could censor campus-wide conversations and protests.
FIRE, a nonprofit political organization whose stated mission is “to defend and sustain individual rights at America’s colleges and universities,” has a college rating system based on the “stoplight” system.
According to FIRE spokeswoman Laura Beltz, the red-light rating represents a campus with at least one policy that clearly and substantially restricts freedom of expression. The yellow light rating means that a school has at least one policy that could easily restrict speech due to its vagueness, and a green rating showcases a school that does not imperil free speech.
For those unaware, the current CSULB Campus Regulation, under General Campus Policies B3, is not very specific or direct, stating: “‘Sexual harassment is characterized as unwelcome, offensive attention, requests, invitations, innuendo and/or conduct of a sexual or suggestive nature.’”
I agree — our campus should be free of sexual harassment or xenophobic protests. With that being said, FIRE’s recent red-light rating of CSULB’s campus has me convinced that the administration’s powers could be used to limit the campus’ freedom of speech in general.
In order to prevent this from occurring, it’s necessary to stay informed about these key campus policies. As a result of these campus rules ambiguous nature, it’s our job as students to prevent campus officials from allowing us to freely voice our thoughts.
Beltz stated that, “This extremely broad definition could include everything from legitimate harassment that meets the Court’s standard, to a single off-color joke.”
I don’t feel that the free speech policy was meant to hurt students; however, I am deeply concerned that in the future it very well could. It would be unfortunate to see it misused at the detriment of an unsuspecting student.
But that’s not all. Although our sexual harassment policy is the only red-light rating CSULB possesses, there were several yellow-light rated policies that I also find worrying.
There are six yellow light rated policies in total, including some that regulate demonstrations, protests, and picketing. Yet, there’s one specific yellow light policy that caught my eye.
The policy states that several punishable forms of harassment include, “visual acts or displays, such as derogatory cartoons, drawings, or posters, or inappropriate gestures.”
Unfortunately, I think this policy could cross into a journalist’s or activist’s territory in negative ways. As someone who is politically active and enjoys writing about controversial topics it alarms me to see, for example, “derogatory cartoons” listed as a possible form of harassment.
Although the title of a “derogatory cartoon” is normally reserved for racist imagery — it may very well extend to depictions of, for example, political figures like the president elect Donald Trump or their supporters.
Yesterday there was a protest surrounding the recent election of Trump’s presidency, if, for example, a student holds up a sign with a comedic illustration of the president-elect, the administration has the power to punish the student — which is far from acceptable.
Throughout the years cartoons and various images have been used to poke fun at political candidates or public figures. If, I as a political activist, create a protest surrounding, let’s say a school administrator and student government official that involves the use of a cartoon or eye-catching words, I could easily be censored.
Sometimes, less is more: this is not one of those times. FIRE is right — several of CSULB’s policies are too vague in their current form, which could potentially lead to the punishment of a student who is freely exercising their First Amendment rights. CSULB could do a better job of clarifying their policies and take a stronger, more constitutional stance on free speech, so as to not leave unclear powers to administrators.