A new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education finds that 74.2 percent of American colleges and universities, and 77 percent of public higher ed institutions, “maintain policies that clearly restrict speech that, outside the borders of campus, is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
The 28-page report can be found online here.
Edit: As Ashley notes in comments, and as I should have mentioned up front, FAIR is a right-leaning organization. I posted about their report in the spirit of “here’s something to look at” rather than as an endorsement of them as an organization, or even of their report. See my comment below for a little more detail, and look for a longer update at the end of the week.
studentactivism.net 
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December 16, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Ashley
Sigh. Colleges totally do limit first amendment rights in unacceptable ways, but that’s not what FIRE is talking about.
FIRE is a conservative organization. They’re mostly concerned with making sure people don’t get disciplined for sexual harassment or harassment of oppressed minorities. They use the rhetoric of progressive efforts to preserve “free speech” because they can confuse well-meaning progressives that way.
FIRE is all linked up with the Scaife and Bradley foundations, and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Their last director was on the Council for National Policy. Take a look at the people on their boards. They’ll bullshit and say they’re not conservative, but it’s very obvious when you look at who they are, where there money comes from, and the kind of cases they take on.
I’m familiar with them because they oppose the existence of sexual assault policies on college campuses.
December 16, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Angus Johnston
Thanks for the comment, Ashley, and for the poke.
First off, I definitely should have identified FIRE as a conservative group, and I actually intended to, but I got distracted while mulling how to phrase it and forgot to come back to it. I’ll edit the post accordingly.
But having said that, I do think that FAIR’s opposition to speech codes falls within a civil libertarian tradition, and that their argument that students should not give up their First Amendment rights when they enter the campus is a legitimate one. The speech code question is a thorny one, though, and I probably shouldn’t have broached it in a quick-fire post.
Finally, I’m not familiar with FIRE’s work against sexual assault policies, and I’m eager to know more. If you could point me in the direction of some info, I’d be grateful.
December 17, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Ashley
Hey Angus,
Do you have an email addy? I can send you some stuff.