Washington State University - First Amendment Controversies

First Amendment Controversies

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (http://www.thefire.org) has criticized WSU on several occasions for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of students and faculty. FIRE also has "red flagged" the university for having a policy that it says has the potential to violate free speech rights.

In 2005, 42-year-old WSU elementary education student Ed Swan of Othello, Washington, wrote “diversity is perversity” in the margins of a book. Swan, a devoted Christian, also told his professors that he didn’t believe in the ideas of white privilege or male privilege or that there was bias any longer in favor of the majority. Swan also opposed adoption by gays.

In an evaluation to determine if he was fit to teach in public schools, one of his professors called him a “white supremacist.” Officials threatened to dismiss Swan if he didn’t undergo diversity training and sign an agreement stating he would respect community norms and diversity values. Swan, who is the father of four bi-racial children, refused to sign the agreement.

WSU dropped its threat of dismissal after FIRE accused the university of failing to distinguish between speech and action in trying to punish Swan.

The Swan incident was the second time in 2005 that the University had been reprimanded for violating free speech rights of students. The other incident occurred in April, when WSU paid for and trained students to disrupt student playwright Chris Lee’s satire “Passion of the Musical,” a play that the writer said was “offensive or inflammatory to all audiences.” About 40 hecklers stopped the play and threatened physical violence against the cast members. Former University President Lane Rawlins also publicly criticized the play.

WSU originally defended its actions, saying heckling was an exercise of students’ free speech rights. But WSU reversed its position after FIRE filed a complaint against the university. WSU adopted a new policy, which stated: “Please be aware that disruption to this performance, or any program will not be tolerated and will be dealt with accordingly, up to and including participants being escorted from the venue.”

Although WSU corrected its actions in both the Swan and Lee cases, the university never formally apologized for its actions.

In November 2009, Murrow associate professor David Demers filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against a former director of the Murrow program and three other university administrators (Eastern District of Washington, Spokane, No. 2:09-cv-00334-RHW). Before the trial court, the university argued that WSU professors do not deserve free-speech rights when they, as employees, criticize university administrators. A federal district court judge in Spokane agreed.

On November 7, 2012, a three-judge panel of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle will hear oral arguments from both sides of the dispute. The American Association of University Professors and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression have written a brief in support of free-speech rights for faculty (http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/Events-News/Article-Detail.php?art_uid=3406).

In late October 2012, WSU football coach Mike Leach banned his players from using Twitter. The decision came after news reports that some of the players had sent Tweets that some people believed were sexist and racist. The Seattle Times quoted two lawyers who said the ban violated the First Amendment rights of students. (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/mike-leach-bans-washington-state-players-twitters-161225622--ncaaf.html).