FC: California univ. student punished for... posting event flyer

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

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Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 14:02:04 -0500 (EST)
From: "Thor L. Halvorssen" <thor@thefire.org>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>

To: Declan McCullagh
From: Thor L. Halvorssen

Cal Poly Student Punished for Posting Flier
Public University Gives Veto to Students Who Claim "Offense"

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA -- In the spring of 2003, a student at the California 
Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) was found guilty of "disruption" 
for posting a flier -- in a public area -- that some students found 
"offensive."  The public university placed unequal rights above the Bill of 
Rights.  "Allowing some individuals to veto the protected expression of 
others is an unconscionable betrayal of Cal Poly's moral and legal 
obligations," said Thor L. Halvorssen, CEO of the Foundation for Individual 
Rights in Education (FIRE).

On November 12, 2002, Steve Hinkle, an undergraduate and a member of the 
Cal Poly College Republicans (CPCR), posted fliers advertising a speech by 
Mason Weaver, author of "It's OK to Leave the Plantation."  In that book, 
Weaver argues that dependence on the government puts many African-Americans 
in circumstances similar to slavery.  Weaver's speech was sponsored by both 
CPCR and the student government.  The flier contained merely the title of 
the book, a photograph of the author (who is African-American), and the 
time and location of the speech.

When Hinkle sought to post a flier on a public bulletin board in the 
Multicultural Center, several students approached him.  They claimed that 
they were "offended" by the flier and that it was in violation of the 
Center's posting policy.  Hinkle left to check the policy, confirming that 
he was indeed in compliance.  While he was gone, one of the students called 
the university police.  The officer summoned to the Center stated in 
writing that he was investigating a report of "a suspicious white male 
passing out literature of an offensive racial nature."

The students in the Multicultural Center admit trying to prevent Hinkle 
from advertising the event.  Charges were brought not against these 
censors, however, but against Hinkle himself.  On January 29, 2003, Cal 
Poly charged Hinkle with "disruption" of a "campus event."  The students 
who objected to the posting of the flier claimed that they were holding a 
Bible study dinner and meeting at the time of the incident.  The 
university's "finding of facts" notes that the Bible study group is not 
officially recognized, that the bulletin board is in a public "student 
lounge area," and that no notice of any kind indicated that a meeting was 
underway at the time.

In February, Cal Poly subjected Hinkle to a lengthy hearing.  He was denied 
the right to have a lawyer present at the proceedings, but his faculty 
advisor made a transcript.  At that hearing, Cornel Morton, vice president 
for student affairs, told Hinkle: "You are a young white male member of 
CPCR.  To students of color, this may be a collision of experience....  The 
chemistry has racial implications, and you are naive not to acknowledge 
those."

On March 12, Vice Provost W. David Conn found Hinkle guilty.  Conn ordered 
Hinkle to write letters of apology to the offended students.  The 
sentencing letter from Conn stated that the text of the apology would be 
subject to the approval of the Office of Judicial Affairs.   The letter 
also warned that "there is no parameter or guarantee regarding the 
confidentiality of the letter [of apology]" and that "this decision is 
final."  Conn informed Hinkle that if he did not accept this punishment, he 
would face much stiffer penalties, up to expulsion.

Hinkle submitted his case to FIRE.  On April 15, 2003, Greg Lukianoff, 
FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy, wrote to Cal Poly President 
Warren J. Baker, urging him to defend Steve Hinkle's fundamental 
constitutional rights.  Lukianoff demonstrated the absurdity of a 
"disruption" charge against someone who was silently posting, on a public 
bulletin board, a flier for an approved campus event.  Moreover, Lukianoff 
wrote, the "disrupted" students were "not a recognized student group and 
the 'meeting' was therefore not a 'campus function.'  Ironically, Mr. 
Hinkle was actually posting fliers for an event that was sponsored by a 
recognized student group and by the student government, and it is he who 
has the far better claim to 'campus function' status."

Lukianoff continued: "All accounts agree that Mr. Hinkle, who only wanted 
to post a flier, was then approached by the students -- not the other way 
around."  Hinkle's accusers, he noted, "themselves initiated what they 
later claimed was his 'disruption'....If they had allowed Mr. Hinkle to go 
about his constitutionally protected activity, there would have been no 
'disruption' at all.  All of this leads FIRE to draw the obvious 
conclusion: Mr. Hinkle and the CPCR are being punished for the content of 
their expression."

On May 9, 2003, Cal Poly's legal counsel, Carlos Cordova, responded to 
FIRE's letter.  Cordova denied any wrongdoing and did not substantively 
address any of FIRE's specific concerns.  Today, Steve Hinkle remains 
punished for trying to post a factual, simple, and constitutionally 
protected flier.

"I have been distracted from my studies because a handful of my fellow 
students want to see me punished for the content of my flier," Hinkle 
said.  "With FIRE in my corner, I now hope that Cal Poly will be made to 
respect my free speech rights."

"Cal Poly grants selected students abusive control over the expression of 
other students," Halvorssen noted.  "Disagreement, now called 'offense,' is 
all it takes to get Cal Poly administrators to launch an inquiry and secure 
a conviction on a spurious charge of 'disruption.'  Cal Poly gives some 
people the power to veto what others have to say.  Students at that 
institution now live in insecure possession of their most basic First 
Amendment rights."

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is a nonprofit 
educational foundation. FIRE unites civil rights and civil liberties 
leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals across the 
political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, freedom 
of expression, freedom of conscience, and due process on our nation's 
campuses. FIRE's efforts to preserve liberty at Cal Poly and elsewhere can 
be seen by visiting www.thefire.org.

CONTACT:
Thor L. Halvorssen, CEO, FIRE: 215-717-3473; fire@thefire.org

Greg Lukianoff, Director of Legal and Public Advocacy, FIRE: 215-717-3473; 
greg@thefire.org

Warren J. Baker, President, Cal Poly: (805) 756-6000; wbaker@calpoly.edu 




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