From: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: I've just been repremanded by net.big.brother
Keywords: no reply
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 21:42:54 GMT

The Northeastern official:

[...]
>While neither DAC or the University have any intention of restricting
>free speech, there are standards for reasonable conduct.
[...]

dave@bradley.bradley.edu (David Vessell) writes:
[...]
> All I see is a polite request that
>you police yourself.  Had they said "or else..." on the end or threatened
>punitive measures, then that would be closer to censorship.
[...]

I read the phrase "there are standards for reasonable conduct" as a
warning/threat of possible punitive measures.

dave@bradley.bradley.edu (David Vessell) writes:

>Freedom of speech in your forum is really a privilege, as is the case
>at most private universities that grant their students net access [.
>...]  However, every article you post has Northeastern University
>attached to it.It's more of a free press issue than a free speech
>issue; the university owns the 'press' (the computer used to access
>the net) and therefore enjoys editorial powers over its
>'contributors'.

While freedom of expression at private universities is not a legal
constitutional right, it is usually a legal contractual right. For
example, the Policy Statement On Student Rights And Responsibilities
of Northwestern U. (not to be confused with Northeastern) says:

"8. Students will be free from censorship in the publication and
   dissemination of their views as long as these are not
   represented as the views of Northwestern University."

(It, in my opinion, is also a moral right.)

Moreover, universities generally don't want or accept editorial
control of student publications. Not only would such control violate
academic freedom, it would increase the chances that the University is
legally liable for the publications.

Finally, it is a fundamental principle of academic freedom that
students and faculty may speak for themselves (even via univeristy
facilities). If Northeastern wants to make this principle explicit, it
can add a disclaimer to outgoing Netnews articles.

- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================
academic/conduct-code-etc.nwu
=================
* Northwestern U. -- Code of Conduct, etc.

Several policies from Northwestern University (Chicago).

    Rules And Regulations Of Student Conduct Policy
    Statement On Student Rights And Responsibilities
    Policy On Summary Suspensions
    Guidelines For Access To Student Records
    University Statutes: Article V, Students
    University Statement On Sexual Harassment
    Trustee Statement On Disruption

=================
faq/netnews.liability
=================
* Netnews -- On University Liability for Netnews
 
q: Does a University reduce its likely liability by screening Netnews
for offensive articles and newsgroups?
 
a: Not necessarily. By screening articles and newsgroups the
...

=================
academic/student.freedoms.aaup
=================
* Student Freedoms (AAUP)

Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main
U.S. statement on student academic freedom.

=================
caf
=================
* About the CAF mailing lists (and newsgroups)

A description of the comp-academic-freedom-talk mailing list. It is a
free-forum for the discussion of questions such as: How should general
principles of academic freedom (such as freedom of expression, freedom
to read, due process, and privacy) be applied to university computers
and networks? How are these principles actually being applied? How can
the principles of academic freedom as applied to computers and
networks be defended?

=================
=================

If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command
   gopher gopher.eff.org

These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/academic/conduct-code-etc.nwu
  pub/academic/faq/netnews.liability
  pub/academic/academic/student.freedoms.aaup
  pub/academic/caf

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org.
Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file
name):

send acad-freedom/academic conduct-code-etc.nwu
send acad-freedom/faq netnews.liability
send acad-freedom/academic student.freedoms.aaup
send acad-freedom caf

-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent any organization; this is just me.
 = kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Newsgroups: alt.irc