Free speech resolution given to Board of Trustees
James Rose
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News
In further development of the issue of free speech, a resolution was presented to the Chabot-Las Positas Board of Trustees on Jan. 19. The resolution was drafted by and unanimously passed in the LPC Academic Senate on Dec. 9, 2009.
The issue concerning District policy regarding posted materials has transferred from the hands of the Academic Senate to the District level.
"The Las Positas College Academic Senate believed that the student's First Amendment rights were violated," said Sarah Thompson, LPC Academic Senate president who presented the resolution to the Board. "We are hoping that the District will take appropriate steps to make amends to the students whose rights were violated, including their current Board policy to make sure the policies are not the offenders."
In the resolution, the Academic Senate stated that the Administration of LPC appeared to have violated Radio Las Positas' free speech rights on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 by removing flyers and postcards referring to an off-campus event by a one-person determination that material was obscene.
Thompson provided each Board member with the flyer and postcard for their review.
The resolution demanded four items for the Board to take into immediate action: organize a panel to find out what exactly happened on Oct. 21, seek legal counsel to look at Board policy regarding the constitutionality of obscenity on every campus in the district and stop attempts to discipline faculty based upon illegal free speech and their intellectual freedom. Also, if the Board policies regarding obscenity are found to be legal and constitutional, then the Academic Senate demand that the Board review why a single person is given the power to determine what defines obscenity on campus.
California Education Code Section 66301 protects students' free speech rights by barring the governing board of community college districts from making a rule that disciplines students based upon free speech. Students retain their free speech rights on campus as they do off campus.
Also present at the meeting were two Radio Las Positas members, Lawrence Witkowski, public relations manager, and Nolan O'Brien, faculty advisor.
"We put forward so much effort and time going above and beyond what I thought was to be a student in the class," Witkowski said. "To see it taken away I felt threatened because all of my work went away."
According to Witkowski, RLP went through all of the proper steps to make sure that the flyers were approved.
O'Brien believes that his students were "criminalized for expressing their free speech rights." He hopes that the Board heeds the resolution's advice to review their policies.
"I personally believe that thought-policing has no place in academia," O'Brien said.
The issue concerning District policy regarding posted materials has transferred from the hands of the Academic Senate to the District level.
"The Las Positas College Academic Senate believed that the student's First Amendment rights were violated," said Sarah Thompson, LPC Academic Senate president who presented the resolution to the Board. "We are hoping that the District will take appropriate steps to make amends to the students whose rights were violated, including their current Board policy to make sure the policies are not the offenders."
In the resolution, the Academic Senate stated that the Administration of LPC appeared to have violated Radio Las Positas' free speech rights on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 by removing flyers and postcards referring to an off-campus event by a one-person determination that material was obscene.
Thompson provided each Board member with the flyer and postcard for their review.
The resolution demanded four items for the Board to take into immediate action: organize a panel to find out what exactly happened on Oct. 21, seek legal counsel to look at Board policy regarding the constitutionality of obscenity on every campus in the district and stop attempts to discipline faculty based upon illegal free speech and their intellectual freedom. Also, if the Board policies regarding obscenity are found to be legal and constitutional, then the Academic Senate demand that the Board review why a single person is given the power to determine what defines obscenity on campus.
California Education Code Section 66301 protects students' free speech rights by barring the governing board of community college districts from making a rule that disciplines students based upon free speech. Students retain their free speech rights on campus as they do off campus.
Also present at the meeting were two Radio Las Positas members, Lawrence Witkowski, public relations manager, and Nolan O'Brien, faculty advisor.
"We put forward so much effort and time going above and beyond what I thought was to be a student in the class," Witkowski said. "To see it taken away I felt threatened because all of my work went away."
According to Witkowski, RLP went through all of the proper steps to make sure that the flyers were approved.
O'Brien believes that his students were "criminalized for expressing their free speech rights." He hopes that the Board heeds the resolution's advice to review their policies.
"I personally believe that thought-policing has no place in academia," O'Brien said.
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