From: cschmidt@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu (Christopher Schmidt)
Subject: Language Censors in Madison
Reply-To: cschmidt@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu (Christopher Schmidt)
Organization: Northeastern University, Boston, MA. 02115, USA
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:57:20 GMT

               LANGUAGE CENSORS IN MADISON

[This article consists of excerpts from an article by
Michael Rezendes that appeared on the front page of the
10-JAN-1993 issue of the Boston Globe.]

MADISON, Wisconsin -- When Donna E. Shalala arrived at the
sprawling University of Wisconsin campus here in 1987, she
was quickly drawn into an effort to quell widespread racial
turmoil by barring students from using "hate speech."

Shalala, who is President-elect Bill Clinton's pick to lead
the Department of Health and Human Services, was the
university's chancellor when a code of speech was imposed
that not only earned her the sobriquet "high priestess of
political correctness" but also was found to violate
students' right to free speech....

Here on the Madison campus, Shalala's critics contend that
she has posed a threat to what they believe is the highest
purpose of a university: a free exchange of ideas in the
pursuit of truth.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the speech rule deterred
students from expressing what I think most people would
regard as perfectly normal opinions," said Katy Culver, a
teaching assistant in the School of Journalism who wrote a
master's degree thesis on the brouhaha surrounding the
speech code.

Under the code, students could have been disciplined with
penalties ranging up to expulsion for a variety of verbal
offenses. To cite one example, a student could have been
found in violation of the code if "he or she intentionally
made demeaning remarks to an individual based on that
person's ethnicity, such as name calling, racial slurs, or
'jokes.'"...

The extent to which Shalala played a direct role in devising
or promoting the code remains unclear. She appears to have
made few public comments on the subject. But supporters in
her administration, as well as critics among faculty and
students, insist that Shalala was a crucial supporter of the
code.

After the regents approved the code, attorneys with the
Wisconsin chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
persuaded a federal judge that it violated the First
Amendment free speech rights of students. The regents then
approved a revised code, but the new rules were rescinded
following a US Supreme Court decision that held that a St.
Paul [Minnesota] law prohibiting the burning of Ku Klux Klan
crosses was unconstitutional.

University administrators, who remain unapologetic about the
code, say criticism of their attempt to constrain offending
speech has been overblown and that the code was never used
to discipline any student.

But Culver and others say that the rules on speech written
during Shalala's tenure as chancellor had a chilling effect
on academic life.

For example, Culver said that a student in a newspaper
reporting class she teaches told her privately that she
decided not to participate in a discussion on the ethics of
revealing the sexual orientation of newspaper story subjects
because she feared her belief that homosexuality is immoral
would not be tolerated.

"It's dead wrong for something like that to happen. It's
just not what a university should be about," Culver said.
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