The Joke Ban

by Mike Adams




The University of Northern Colorado (UNCO) has decided it's time to prohibit "Bias Motivated Incidents." When you hear about a "bias motivated incident," maybe you're thinking about a cross burning, or something of that nature. But at UNCO the "bias motivated incident" could simply be an "inappropriate joke" that is motivated by some form of bias.

The UNCO policy also says that "Any discriminatory act is a violation of the Housing & Residence Life Student Code of Conduct." Well, what do they mean by "any discriminatory act"? According to the UNCO handbook this includes, but is not limited to, "racism, ageism, sexism, and/or homophobia." And (get ready for this!) included in the definition is "intentionally, recklessly or negligently causing physical, emotional, or mental harm to any person."

In my view, there are at least three fundamental dangers associated with the UNCO speech code.

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Why free speech advocates are angry

by Mark Bauerlein

Sometimes people who don't work in academia wonder why colleges are often the object of debates over free speech. Sure, some observers know that campuses are liberal enclaves, and they regard professors and administrators as easily intimidated by identity politics. But most people remember their college days as pretty much apolitical, and they continue to put the ideological elements in a small box.

That's why it's important to go back to the sources and hold them up to public scrutiny. Take campus speech codes. They have a bad name in public life, but they stand firm in student handbooks and campus policies in black and white. Here is a list of some of them, all taken from the list assembled by Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (www.thefire.org). (Some of them may have been altered by now, but the fact that they ever existed is sufficient cause for response.)

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