Letters to Schools in
Defense of Free Expression
During my years of anti-censorship activism with the Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression and the National Writers Union, I frequently defended freedom of speech at both public and private educational institutions. I have archived here some of the letters I wrote or worked upon.
Does Your Alma Mater Censor Free Expression?
Private Colleges and Universities: Bradford, Carnegie Mellon (1, 2), Columbia, Cornell, Emerson (1, 2, 3) (these people are the pits), Hampshire, Northeastern (1, 2), MIT, University of Pennsylvania (1, 2), Wentworth Institute of Technology, Wesleyan (1, 2), Wheelock.
Public Universities: Pennsylvania State University (one of the good guys); University of California, Santa Cruz; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of Michigan Law School; University of New Orleans (1, 2, 3, 4), University of South Carolina.
Primary and Secondary Schools: Dublin School (Dublin NH), Hempfield PA, Mascenic NH, Rockford IL, Sandwich MA, Somerville MA.
1992
12/23/92 NWU letter to Dean Bollinger of the University of Michigan Law School, protesting the banning by Catharine MacKinnon and some of her disciples of an art exhibit addressing prostitution.
1993
06/04/93 NWU letter to President Curry of Northeastern University, protesting the awarding of an honorary degree to Catharine MacKinnon.
06/14/93 BCFE letter to President Curry. After honoring MacKinnon, Northeastern reduced funding for a program for Afro-American artists, and fired the program's founder, respected artist Dana Chandler.
11/29/93 BCFE letter to President Vest of MIT, protesting the MIT speech code.
1994
11/07/1994 NWU letter to President Mehrabian of Carnegie Mellon University. Tensions over the relative freedom of speech in cyberspace had been mounting for sometime, with occasional pitched battles breaking out. But Carnegie-Mellon's decision to practice heavy-handed censorship of what its students could access on the internet led to all-out war -- a war that is still being waged. Although the Communications Decency Act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the enemies of free speech will never give up. No matter the eventual outcome, the name Carnegie Mellon will be dishonored by advocates for freedom for decades to come.
12/04/94 NWU letter to Conversio Virium, a BDSM discussion group that was temporarily banned at Columbia University.
12/06/94 NWU letter to David Dodson, a University of California, Santa Cruz, administrator. A student was threatened with sexual harassment charges for suggesting -- in jest -- holding a Miss Nude Santa Cruz contest.
12/13/94 NWU letter to C. Richard Nichols, Hempfield PA Superintendent of Schools, protesting the banning of the Prentice-Hall literature anthology, Literature in Society.
1995
03/01/95 NWU letter to Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the University of Pennsylvania. A conservative student publication is defunded after its files and archives are "accidentally" destroyed.
04/06/95 NWU follow-up letter to Dr. Rodin.
04/21/95 NWU letter to Joseph Short, President of Bradford College. Bradford had tried to disinvite the students' choice for commencement speaker -- award-winning author Leslie Feinberg -- because Feinberg is a lesbian.
09/08/95 NWU report on arts bashing and censorship at Hampshire College.
09/29/95 NWU letter to Francine Fullham, Superintendent of Schools in Mascenic NH. A teacher was fired for assigning books by E.M. Forster and May Sarton to high-school juniors and seniors.
10/26/95 NWU letter to Arthur Barron of Emerson College, after they banned rap music from the college radio station.
10/26/95 NWU letter to Jacqueline Liebergott, President of Emerson College.
11/02/95 BCFE letter to President Liebergott. Stung by accusations that their ban or rap because it promotes violence and drug use was racist, Arthur Barron suggest that "the criteria we apply to one kind of music should be applied to all." The BCFE helpfully suggests additional songs to ban.
11.04.95 NWU letter to Jason Togyer, editor of The Tartan at Carnegie Mellon University, protesting a proposed campus speech code.
11/13/95 NWU letter to the Graduate Employees Organization, a sister UAW union, asking them to reconsider their support of a horrible proposed speech code instigated by the administration of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
11/19/95 NWU letter to Cornell, protesting the disciplining of students for a private email entitled, "75 Reasons Why Women Shouldn't Have Freedom of Speech."
1996
01/29/96 NWU letter to John M. Palms, President of the University of South Carolina. Student Media Director freaks out and shuts down the student radio station after hearing "Have a Homo Christmas" by Pansy Division.
02/08/96 NWU letter to Marjorie Bakken, President of Wheelock College, after Wheelock shuts down a photographic exhibit.
04/29/96 NWU letter to Christopher Horgan, headmaster of the Dublin School, who fired a teacher for exhibiting a nude photograph at a nearby arts center.
07/11/96 NWU letter to Albert F. Argenziano, Superintendent of Schools in Somerville, MA. A elementary-school principal unsuccessfully bullies a child to remove a "Respect to Castro" panel from a class mural called A Children's Wall of Respect.
08/21/96 NWU letter to Dr. Ronald Epps, Superintendent of Schools in Rockford, IL. Bigots ban an award-winning book about gang life.
09/20/96 NWU letter to Douglas J. Bennet, President of Wesleyan University, expressing concern over an incident where a student was prosecuted for "sexual harassment" for creating a doctored image of another student engaged in a sexual act.
09/30/96 NWU letter to Allen A. Copping, President of the Louisiana State University System, regarding a University of New Orleans professor, Edward M. Miller, who was threatened with disciplinary action for writing a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.
10/09/96 NWU follow-up letter to President Bennet of Wesleyan, containing a summary of legal decisions regarding college speech codes.
11/18/96 NWU letter to Gregory M. St. L. O'Brien, Chancellor of the University of New Orleans, responding to his response to my letter to Copping regarding Professor Miller.
1997
02/24/97 NWU letter to Dr. Graham Spanier, President of Pennsylvania State University, regarding an incident in which a pro-heterosexual student organization (STRAIGHT) was temporarily denied recognition. In contrast with almost other colleges and universities, Dr. Spanier and the other Penn State administrators were a pleasure to deal with.
07/24/97 Personal letter to Ms. Kitt Lipps, University of New Orleans Public Information Officer, expressing concern that Professor Miller is the victim of viewpoint discrimination.
11/24/97 BCFE letter to Peter Cannone, Superintendent of Schools in Sandwich, MA. This was a very sad case. An able and talented teacher of 14 years tenure was fired for showing his students most of the movie version of A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, by that notorious evil pornographer, Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The media coverage was (as usual) reprehensible. All of the Boston TV news anchors (who have a cumulative IQ of 37) salivated and smacked their lips over this "sex video." A major victory for homo boobiens and a tragic setback for all who have even the most minimal concern about freedom of speech.
1998
01/23/98 Personal letter to Donald A. Pekarek, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at the University of New Orleans, expressing my concern about viewpoint discrimination directed at Professor Miller.
02/26/98 BCFE letter to Dean Maureen C. Keefe of Wentworth Institute of Technology. Those boneheads who run our institutions of higher learning just keep outdoing themselves. At Wentworth they ban the long-running Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (and suspend the Drama Club advisor), claiming that permitting the production would increase sexual harassment on campus.
kyp@ultranet.com
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