Dartblog

I have been very tough on Dartmouth for the presence of vague, shadowy speech codes that could- and were- selectively enforced against groups and students that did not follow a politically correct hardline. Dartmouth’s “red” rating from FIRE was a burden on the name of this institution. When the College specifically removed the key documents constituting the speech code from its website during a very heated trustee election in which those speech codes played a role (and this move still seems like intended electioneering) the cause became dire still. Students could not find the statements and voters could not verify the claims of the Trustee candidates though they remained accurate.

I am pleased to report that FIRE is upgrading Dartmouth’s rating. It is truly a stunning turnaround, and has to do with the ill-timed removal of the web documents. Here are excerpts from the release:

“FIRE no longer considers Dartmouth to have a speech code. Moreover, Dartmouth is clearly positioning itself as a national leader in the battle for free expression on campus,” remarked David French, FIRE’s president. “Although the situation at Dartmouth is not perfect, by removing from its website the documents that contained speech-restrictive statements and by confirming that those statements do not represent college policy, Dartmouth has taken an enormous step forward.” […]

In the last academic year, Dartmouth trustee T.J. Rodgers raised concerns with Dartmouth and with FIRE regarding Dartmouth’s poor free speech rating. Then, in September 2004, President Wright strongly endorsed free speech on campus in his convocation address. Rodgers subsequently wrote to FIRE to request that FIRE upgrade Dartmouth’s red-light speech code rating on its speechcodes.org website. FIRE President David French declined to do so, citing the May 2001 letters from Wright and Larimore that were still posted on Dartmouth’s website. Shortly thereafter, FIRE noticed that the letters from Wright and Larimore had been removed from the website. FIRE then wrote President Wright on April 19 to ask for confirmation on whether or not the 2001 letters represented “binding statements of college policy.”

On May 2, 2005, Dartmouth General Counsel Robert B. Donin replied to FIRE, confirming that the statements of President Wright and Dean Larimore could not “be relied upon to support a complaint based on the content or viewpoint of controversial speech.” Donin also explained that his own recent guest column in the college newspaper, as well as President Wright’s September 2004 convocation address, “reaffirm the College’s longstanding commitment to the values of respect for others and the free exchange of ideas.” Further, Donin noted that “the decision… to remove the two letters from the College’s web site was taken to end confusion about their role.” […]

“Dartmouth’s speech policies, along with those of the University of Pennsylvania, now lead the Ivy League in respecting individual liberty and free expression,” remarked FIRE’s French.

A statement from President Wright in the pages of The Dartmouth, as an official letter, or in a public address, would have made the abolition of the de facto speech code very clear.