Letter Re: Steve Hinkle, Cal Poly State University student
Given what I see below, which I would doubt is the whole story, the way this
incident was handled qualifies as extraordinarily stupid, utterly
inappropriate and
excessive. I would strongly suggest that the university reconsider it’s
decision in this mattter.
The student may have been provocative in his decision to post the flyer in
the
campus Multi-Cultural Center, but that is well within the bounds of the
normal type of discourse that should permitted on a university campus;
students should not be “sheltered” or allowed to shelter themselves from
political speech expressed by others in a public forum.
If I had been a student there, posting a flyer advertising a lecture on a
Gnostic interpretation of Genesis positing that the God the Bible study
students worship is an incompetent and malicious being who desires only to
keep us in ignorance, and that the snake was the good guy, and Eve the smart
one, might that not have been equally offensive?
Or one advertising a lecture presented by a participant in the “Jesus
Seminar” on the “historical Jesus”, which discusses how textual analysis of
New Testament materials reveals that much of what is recorded there is
inauthentic to the actual words of Jesus himself?
How about a socialist student posting flyers advertising a speech by a
radical left-wing black activist which labels mainstream black leaders
“Uncle Tom’s” and “Oreos” and labeling black churches as vehicles for mental
slavery? Might that not have offended the students in question?
If you define guidelines for posting informational material to public spaces
on campus, then you need to follow those guidelines, and nothing else.
If students are to be forced to evaluate whether or not the sensibilities of
other students will be offended by a particular expression of speech and are
made to fear personal reprocussions for engaging in it, then you’ve neutered
and spayed intellectual discourse on your campus and its value as an
educational institution is vastly degraded.
Regards,
Thomas Leavitt
P.S. and I lived in the Multi-Cultural Hall at Occidental College for two
years; conservative complaints about academia generally don’t carry much
weight with me.
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 14:02:04 -0500 (EST)
From: “Thor L. Halvorssen”
To: Declan McCullagh
From: Thor L. Halvorssen
Cal Poly Student Punished for Posting Flier
Public University Gives Veto to Students Who Claim “Offense”
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA — In the spring of 2003, a student at the California
Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) was found guilty of “disruption”
for posting a flier — in a public area — that some students found
“offensive.” The public university placed unequal rights above the Bill of
Rights. “Allowing some individuals to veto the protected expression of
others is an unconscionable betrayal of Cal Poly’s moral and legal
obligations,” said Thor L. Halvorssen, CEO of the Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education (FIRE).
On November 12, 2002, Steve Hinkle, an undergraduate and a member of the
Cal Poly College Republicans (CPCR), posted fliers advertising a speech by
Mason Weaver, author of “It’s OK to Leave the Plantation.” In that book,
Weaver argues that dependence on the government puts many African-Americans
in circumstances similar to slavery. Weaver’s speech was sponsored by both
CPCR and the student government. The flier contained merely the title of
the book, a photograph of the author (who is African-American), and the
time and location of the speech.
When Hinkle sought to post a flier on a public bulletin board in the
Multicultural Center, several students approached him. They claimed that
they were “offended” by the flier and that it was in violation of the
Center’s posting policy. Hinkle left to check the policy, confirming that
he was indeed in compliance. While he was gone, one of the students called
the university police. The officer summoned to the Center stated in
writing that he was investigating a report of “a suspicious white male
passing out literature of an offensive racial nature.”
The students in the Multicultural Center admit trying to prevent Hinkle
from advertising the event. Charges were brought not against these
censors, however, but against Hinkle himself. On January 29, 2003, Cal
Poly charged Hinkle with “disruption” of a “campus event.” The students
who objected to the posting of the flier claimed that they were holding a
Bible study dinner and meeting at the time of the incident. The
university’s “finding of facts” notes that the Bible study group is not
officially recognized, that the bulletin board is in a public “student
lounge area,” and that no notice of any kind indicated that a meeting was
underway at the time.
In February, Cal Poly subjected Hinkle to a lengthy hearing. He was denied
the right to have a lawyer present at the proceedings, but his faculty
advisor made a transcript. At that hearing, Cornel Morton, vice president
for student affairs, told Hinkle: “You are a young white male member of
CPCR. To students of color, this may be a collision of experience…. The
chemistry has racial implications, and you are naive not to acknowledge
those.”
On March 12, Vice Provost W. David Conn found Hinkle guilty. Conn ordered
Hinkle to write letters of apology to the offended students. The
sentencing letter from Conn stated that the text of the apology would be
subject to the approval of the Office of Judicial Affairs. The letter
also warned that “there is no parameter or guarantee regarding the
confidentiality of the letter [of apology]” and that “this decision is
final.” Conn informed Hinkle that if he did not accept this punishment, he
would face much stiffer penalties, up to expulsion.
Hinkle submitted his case to FIRE. On April 15, 2003, Greg Lukianoff,
FIRE’s director of legal and public advocacy, wrote to Cal Poly President
Warren J. Baker, urging him to defend Steve Hinkle’s fundamental
constitutional rights. Lukianoff demonstrated the absurdity of a
“disruption” charge against someone who was silently posting, on a public
bulletin board, a flier for an approved campus event. Moreover, Lukianoff
wrote, the “disrupted” students were “not a recognized student group and
the ‘meeting’ was therefore not a ‘campus function.’ Ironically, Mr.
Hinkle was actually posting fliers for an event that was sponsored by a
recognized student group and by the student government, and it is he who
has the far better claim to ‘campus function’ status.”
Lukianoff continued: “All accounts agree that Mr. Hinkle, who only wanted
to post a flier, was then approached by the students — not the other way
around.” Hinkle’s accusers, he noted, “themselves initiated what they
later claimed was his ‘disruption’….If they had allowed Mr. Hinkle to go
about his constitutionally protected activity, there would have been no
‘disruption’ at all. All of this leads FIRE to draw the obvious
conclusion: Mr. Hinkle and the CPCR are being punished for the content of
their expression.”
On May 9, 2003, Cal Poly’s legal counsel, Carlos Cordova, responded to
FIRE’s letter. Cordova denied any wrongdoing and did not substantively
address any of FIRE’s specific concerns. Today, Steve Hinkle remains
punished for trying to post a factual, simple, and constitutionally
protected flier.
“I have been distracted from my studies because a handful of my fellow
students want to see me punished for the content of my flier,” Hinkle
said. “With FIRE in my corner, I now hope that Cal Poly will be made to
respect my free speech rights.”
“Cal Poly grants selected students abusive control over the expression of
other students,” Halvorssen noted. “Disagreement, now called ‘offense,’ is
all it takes to get Cal Poly administrators to launch an inquiry and secure
a conviction on a spurious charge of ‘disruption.’ Cal Poly gives some
people the power to veto what others have to say. Students at that
institution now live in insecure possession of their most basic First
Amendment rights.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is a nonprofit
educational foundation. FIRE unites civil rights and civil liberties
leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals across the
political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, freedom
of expression, freedom of conscience, and due process on our nation’s
campuses. FIRE’s efforts to preserve liberty at Cal Poly and elsewhere can
be seen by visiting www.thefire.org.
CONTACT:
Thor L. Halvorssen, CEO, FIRE: 215-717-3473; fire@thefire.org
Greg Lukianoff, Director of Legal and Public Advocacy, FIRE: 215-717-3473;
greg@thefire.org
Warren J. Baker, President, Cal Poly: (805) 756-6000; wbaker@calpoly.edu
