Letters
Speech code is incoherent and illiberal
At the April Senate meeting, I proposed to modify Emory's speech code to
make
all judgments under the policy consistent with established First
Amendment
standards -- the minimal change I advocated in a recent article in
Emory
Report. As loyal readers of this paper know, the motion went down to
ignominious defeat. Emory administrators offered the strongest
opposition.
Making Emory respect freedom of expression in the fullest sense would
introduce
"license" and disturb our "moral ecology," thought the University
Secretary,
Gary Hauk. With exquisite irony, the General Counsel, Joseph Crooks,
added that
it would be too "legalistic." Not once did any University official
express
concern about the chilling effect of the code, which law professor Bill
Mayton
had aptly emphasized in a report to the Senate that powerfully challenges
the
code.
As a result, Emory is now committed to an incoherent and illiberal
policy that
infringes on the right to free expression in a manner that would be
unconstitutional if adopted by a public university. Instead of striving
to be
an oasis of liberty, Emory apparently intends to be a bastion of
benevolent
repression. For a university aspiring to greatness, this course is as
unwise as
it is dangerous.
Frank Lechner
Department of Sociology
Emory Report summer schedule
With this issue, Emory Report ceases weekly publication for the
academic
year. After publication of the commencement issue on May 15, Emory
Report will publish five summer issues: June 5 and 19, and July 3, 17
and
31. Weekly publication will resume in late August.
Emory Report garners national CASE award
The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has named
Emory Report one of the top internal collegiate publications in
the
nation. A CASE panel of judges recently awarded Emory Report a
Gold
Medal in the internal audience newsletter category, one of many
publications
categories judged as part of CASE's annual competition. Out of 59 entries
in
the internal audience newsletter category, Emory Report was one of
only
two institutions nationally to receive a Gold Medal, the other being Elon
College in Greensboro, N.C.