ISU being sued for making student give up his freedom of speech to graduate
Isn’t the first amendment one of the first lessons in school?
Robert Dunn, senior at Iowa State, may be denied graduation if he fails to agree to the university’s harassment policies. The Alliance Defending Freedom sued the university on Monday on behalf of Dunn. The ISU student and president of ISU Young Americans for Freedom received an email about an online training program he was required to complete on Iowa State’s nondiscrimination policies.
According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, “The 118-slide course provides no expressed acknowledgement of any free speech rights of students or their interplay with the university’s ‘harassment’ policies, which it nonetheless requires each student to certify that he has ‘read, understood, and will comply with.’ The training concludes with a mandate to certify compliance with the university’s speech policies.”
Dunn was told if he failed to agree to these terms, he would be put on a waiting list, thus withholding his graduation. When Dunn did not agree with the terms Iowa State put forth he decided to challenge his right, rather than back down.
Iowa State’s policy defines harassment in a very vague way, leaving a lot of room for interpretation. This interpretation however is not left up to the students. President Leath and other officials have the final say in what speech seems to be unacceptable here at Iowa State.
ISU’s “harassment” policies prohibit students from even saying words that “annoy” one another, and admit they “may cover those activities which . . . [do not] meet the legal definition of harassment.”
Iowa State is denying the one thing that is engrained into our minds from the time we start schooling: freedom of speech. How can students learn to let their voice be heard if there is a very likely possibility for punishment? Dunn has completed all of his required course material, but may be denied graduation because of a missing signature on a document he doesn’t hold as truth. Without the voice of the students, it wouldn’t be our university. It would just be a bunch of old dudes trying to tell us how to live. No one wants to go to a college where questioning a right is frowned upon. Freedom of Speech should be celebrated, not punished. This could be a costly one, Iowa State.