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Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, proposed on Thursday to lift caps on tuition at the state’s eleven public universities, allowing university leaders to raise tuition by as much as fifteen percent.
The Chronicle of Higher Education announced this development with the following headline:
“Florida’s Governor Gives Public Universities a Break on Tuition.”
Joseph Frederick, who was suspended from high school for two weeks in 2002 for displaying a sign reading “Bong Hits 4 Jesus,” has settled his lawsuit against the school for $45,000.
Frederick displayed the sign while gathered with fellow students to watch the passing of the Olympic torch. The event took place during school hours but off school property, and his lawsuit reached the Supreme Court in 2007.
In a splintered 6-3 decision, the Court rejected the proposition that Frederick’s sign was protected by the First Amendment, but Frederick’s lawsuit continued in Alaska state court.
Under the terms of the settlement, Frederick’s suspension will be expunged from his school records, and the school district will host a forum on student speech and the constitution.
Via Bitch PhD and Inside Higher Ed comes word of new directives on political speech sent out by the ethics office of the University of Illinois system to all university employees.
According to the directives, university employees are not permitted to engage in the following activities “while working, when on University property, while using University resources … or when acting as a representative of the University”:
- Preparing for or participating in any rally or event related to a specific political candidate, party, or referendum – this includes preparation and circulation of campaign materials, petitions, or literature
- Soliciting contributions or votes on behalf of a particular political party or candidate
- Assisting at the polls on behalf of any political party, candidate, or organization
- Surveying or conducting an opinion poll related to anticipating an election outcome, or participating in a recount challenge related to an electionoutcome
- Running for political office
The message goes on to say that wearing pins or t-shirts that support specific candidates or parties, “distributing, producing, or posting flyers or other campaign literature on campus,” conducting voter registration work that is identified with a particular candidate, displaying partisan bumper sticker’s on one’s car, and attending on-campus political rallies, even on one’s own time, are all prohibited activities.
Discussion of these regulations has so far focused on their effect on faculty free speech, but they are explicitly identified as applying to all university employees, including professional and non-professional staff. On their face, the rules would appear to apply to student employees of the university as well — did the university really mean to suggest that if you work as an RA or in a dining hall or staffing the check-out desk in the library a few hours a week, you’re not allowed to wear an Obama pin to class or attend a rally for a local candidate?
We’ll be following this story.
An interesting background piece from the First Amendment Center on the organizational relationship between student newspapers and campus administrators. The piece gives particular attention to the trend toward student papers organizing themselves as non-profit corporations independent of the universitites they cover.
The nuts-and-bolts assistance programs that student governments run for the students they serve may not be the most exciting aspect of campus activism, but they are activist endeavors. They represent students working for students to advance a student-centered agenda, independent of the priorities of the university administration.
Stories like this one are small stories, in other words, but important stories.
studentactivism.net 
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