What We’re Reading: February 2020

In an Unprecedented Move, Twitter Gave a State University Access to a Student’s Parody Account After It Complained That He Was Mocking the School
Paige Leskin | Business Insider | January 31, 2020

SUNY Geneseo administrators complained to Twitter about a parody account that featured an identical logo and bio, as well as a similar tagline to the school’s profile. “In response, the social media platform transferred ownership of the profile away from the student and to an administrator.” Twitter has policies against impersonating accounts but has since said that it made a “mistake” in transferring ownership of the account.

University of Montana Rebukes Foundation’s Censorship Attempt 
Matt Neuman | Missoulian | February 4, 2020

“The University of Montana Foundation tried to force a professor into gaining prior approval of a speech planned for an event later this month before being rebuked by UM administrators. The professor involved has since condemned the request as a violation of academic freedom, as has the faculty union, though the requirement has been withdrawn.”

Delaware University Removes Artwork Featuring Violence Against Trump from Student Show
Brandon Holveck | Delaware News Journal | February 5, 2020

Wilmington University in Delaware has removed a student-created art piece from an online gallery. The piece, a parody of Caravaggio’s “Judith and Holofernes,” depicts two Statues of Liberty cutting off the head of President Trump with a sword. University staff removed the piece because it did not meet school values. Explained one administrator: “It’s more violent than it is expression of speech.”

University of Louisville President Responds to Anti-Gay Incident on Campus
Chris Otts | WDRB.com | February 7, 2020

A student at the University of Louisville placed pamphlets condemning homosexuality as sinful on the desks of an LGBTQ studies course. The school president weighs in: “For a public university, failure to protect free speech leads to significant consequences if we infringe on one’s constitutional rights. At the same time, as a university we have the right, in fact an obligation, to educate our community and advance our goals of creating an inclusive environment.”

Mucaj v. University of Connecticut
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut | January 14, 2020

Two students filed suit against the University of Connecticut after the school brought disciplinary action against them for playing a game in which they said a racial slur. The game was recorded by a bystander. The lawsuit alleges that the school violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as a court order from a 1990 case against the University.

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, Direct Grant Programs, State-Administered Formula Grant Programs, Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, and Strengthening Institutions Program
Department of Education | Federal Register | January 17, 2020

In response to President Trump’s March 21, 2019 executive order on free inquiry, “the Department of Education proposes to revise the current regulations to encourage institutions to foster environments that promote open, intellectually engaging, and diverse debate, including through compliance with the First Amendment for public institutions and compliance with state institutional policies regarding freedom of speech, including academic freedom, for private institutions.”

Demoted and Placed on Probation
Stuart Reges | Quillette | January 11, 2020

A professor at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering describes the fallout after he published a controversial article in Quillette, “Why Women Don’t Code.” He notes the complaints filed against him by students and how it has affected his reappointment: “In the 15 years I have been part of the school, I am the first regular lecturer to be offered less than a three-year extension.”

The Enemies of Writing
George Packer | The Atlantic | January 23, 2020

“Last year I taught a journalism course at Yale. My students were talented and hardworking, but I kept running into a problem: They always wanted to write from a position of moral certainty. …I told my students that good writing never comes from the display of virtue. But I could see that they were skeptical, as if I were encouraging them deliberately to botch a job interview. They were attracted to subjects about which they’d already made up their minds.”

Ten Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2020
Press release | FIRE | January 29, 2020

“This year’s list of the 10 worst colleges for free speech includes a college that fired a professor over an innocuous joke on social media, another that allowed its student government to flatly reject a student club because of its conservative beliefs, one that unilaterally canceled a faculty-organized lecture, and a college that suspended a librarian for curating a historical display highlighting the university’s own photos of its racist past.”

A Year of Discontent on Campus
Christian Schneider | The Dispatch | February 6, 2020

The author analyzes over 1,000 incidents reported to the Bias Response Teams of over 20 public colleges. “Complaints about professors [are] one of the most frequent reports filed. Typically, a student will hear something from a professor with which they disagree, then report them for failing to offer a trigger warning when discussing sexual assault, for engaging in transphobia for mixing up a student’s pronouns, or for making comments the student deems to be racially insensitive.”