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In the US, at least, we have the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, to call regarding things like that. Which reminds me; I should send them money.

OK here's the skinny.

Michigan State defines SPAM in this policy

http://lct.msu.edu/guidelines-policies/bulkemail.html

"Bulk e-mail" in this context means the transmission of an e-mail message within a short time frame to more than a small set of recipients who may not have elected voluntarily to receive the e-mail.

Upper limit 'Short time frames' are defined as 2 days.

It then goes to state right after the definition:

1. Prohibited uses. Bulk e-mailing may not be used for personal purposes, advertising or solicitations, or political statements or purposes.

Pretty clear that this should not be done.

The article also includes the email sent, but redacts the sender line.
My guess is that she used a University created faculty listserv.

That article also supplies the allegations of their head of IT

http://www.thefire.org/pdfs/ae43588d257a0fc64f512e2c99de1b35.pdf

which states Kara Spencer refused to stop using this listserv and said she was going to
do it again. Also, she stated the head of IT should go ahead and file charges.

Now, in that statement it's his word against hers unless he has some witnesses.

But this is not a matter of free speech. It's not the message. It's how she broadcasted the message.
It also pretty clear cut violation of misuse of university property (eg. the listserv) unless she can
prove she created her own faculty listing from scratch. As for sending the bulk email it appears to be a clear violation
based on the university policy.

A question I would have about Michigan State:
  Does that University have a robust and timely mechanism for students to express ideas and address grievances?

Normally I would say the student newspaper or actual protest in the street, but these
are not timely nor do they usually hit the target audience of faculty.

She's allowed to send e-mail to professors and to students. But she has to follow the policies, correct?

Read the bulk e-mail policy here. Specifically:

âoeBulk e-mailâ in this context means the transmission of an e-mail message within a short time frame to more than a small set of recipients who may not have elected voluntarily to receive the e-mail. âoeShort time frameâ means an interval spanning as long as 2 days. âoeSmall set of recipientsâ means the size of individual-recipient address lists (To, CC, BCC fields) typical of most e-mails in common use, ranging from 1, to a few, to as many as may be involved in a large committee or work group (~20-30). Use of mailing lists and listservs to which recipients may voluntarily opt in and opt out is encouraged, and this type of e-mail distribution is not included in the meaning of âoebulk e-mailâ in this document.

There are also some permitted activities. Discussion of school policy changes is not one of them, whereas dissemination of information about school policy changes IS allowed. This doesn't fall into that category though.

Frankly, I don't see what's unconstitutional about this. Unless you think every student should be allowed to spam the college's internal e-mail system as much as he or she would like or something like that. Could it be done differently? Sure. But I don't see how it's unconstitutional.

Cited allegations can be found here (pdf)

No, she actually wrote very well, and articulated her points clearly and succinctly, I thought.

In short, it was well-written, on-topic (insofar as addressing the right people; even though there were 391 recipients, it was university business) and not what I would consider particularly spammy.

I think her mistake was getting uppity and "stat[ing] her intention to continue breaking the Network Acceptable User Policy." She should have tried to be more pleasant and forthcoming. Maybe then the arguments in her email would be being discussed, not overshadowed by this hoo-hah.

On the flip-side I do think MSU are being inordinately heavy-handed here.

We here at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) appreciate the widespread interest in Kara Spencer's case. I would encourage everyone to check out another article on this case over at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-lukianoff/its-raining-spam-at-michi_b_149378.html There is also a podcast interview with Kara Spencer on our website that might be of interest to some of you who wanted more details of the case: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/10008.html

That email: link, link

it's linked in the news article. It was well written, not off topic, and expressed a reasonable concern about the time period students have to get to know the school apparently.

Fantastic. Send it to the student government opt-in mailing list.

Why should there be a loophole in spam laws for political speech? It is my opinion that politicians should be covered by the same bans on robocalling, telemarketing, fax spamming and email spamming that other businesses and individuals are.

That email: link, link

it's linked in the news article. It was well written, not off topic, and expressed a reasonable concern about the time period students have to get to know the school apparently.

Fantastic. Send it to the student government opt-in mailing list.

Why should there be a loophole in spam laws for political speech? It is my opinion that politicians should be covered by the same bans on robocalling, telemarketing, fax spamming and email spamming that other businesses and individuals are.

MSU's anti-spam policy is clearly unconstitutional (see blog post at http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/10012.html).

Adam Kissel
Director, Individual Rights Defense Program
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

MSU's anti-spam policy is clearly unconstitutional (see blog post at http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/10012.html).

Adam Kissel
Director, Individual Rights Defense Program
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

Yes, but ID != creationism.

It's an unprovable theory (as unprovable as the existence of God).

I think the poster with the CNN story: electrictroy made a good point (and yes, I believe the story to be true because I'd heard it elsewhere on other "reputable" networks, as well).

Imagine if you merely had one or two lines in a whole text about evolution that said "some people believe evolution was guided by the hand of God."

It's actually very innocuous, it's completely true (some people obviously DO believe it), and there are certainly scientists who believe in evolution who believe God may have had a hand guiding it.

Now, does it belong in a science book? It's not really science (although some people might consider theology a science), but I think it's very debatable whether a simple, TRUE, passage in a paper or text could include something like that. If the student is religious and puts something like that in their paper, as long as the science is correct, it would seem abhorrent to me to fail them or mark them down for including an obviously true statement.

But what Stein points out is that debate gets stifled instead of debated. I think he picked a poor subject as an example, but that sort of behavior in academia certainly isn't limited to ID, as a perusal of FIRE's website should show.

Personally, I don't think that abortion falls under "family planning;" family planning connotes a conscious plan to limit or eliminate the possibility of pregnancy. And yes, I do think it's wrong, but I would never physically prevent someone from undergoing the procedure or attempt to negate its existence. The kind of attitude that attempts to censor something into nonexistence is more appropriate for a three-year-old dealing with monsters under his bed than the leader of the world's (for now) most powerful country and supposed bastion of freedom. I like to think that we, as individuals and as a country, have grown beyond that. Sadly, it appears we have not.

They look reasonable enough to me.

http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8597.html
I'm disgusted by what happened at the University of Delaware, and these guys are right to oppose it.

I've never read The Nation, but I'm guessing from context that it is conservative.

The main watchdog for campus rights abuses is FIRE.

Speech codes and anti-harassment "respect" policies are the most common culprits when it comes to violating individual rights at colleges.

You can read the "flimsy" details for yourself at the links below.

Federal Lawsuit
http://students.kennesaw.edu/~tbarne18/barnescomplaint.pdf

Valdosta State University Expels Student for Peacefully Protesting New Parking Garages
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8531.html

T. Hayden Barnes' Letter to the Editor of VSU 'Spectator,' April 19, 2007
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8525.html

Photo Collage on T. Hayden Barnes' Facebook.com Page
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8530.html

You can read the "flimsy" details for yourself at the links below.

Federal Lawsuit
http://students.kennesaw.edu/~tbarne18/barnescomplaint.pdf

Valdosta State University Expels Student for Peacefully Protesting New Parking Garages
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8531.html

T. Hayden Barnes' Letter to the Editor of VSU 'Spectator,' April 19, 2007
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8525.html

Photo Collage on T. Hayden Barnes' Facebook.com Page
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8530.html

You can read the "flimsy" details for yourself at the links below.

Federal Lawsuit
http://students.kennesaw.edu/~tbarne18/barnescomplaint.pdf

Valdosta State University Expels Student for Peacefully Protesting New Parking Garages
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8531.html

T. Hayden Barnes' Letter to the Editor of VSU 'Spectator,' April 19, 2007
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8525.html

Photo Collage on T. Hayden Barnes' Facebook.com Page
http://thefire.org/index.php/article/8530.html

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. After backing out of a hearing procedure which they established to give an opportunity for due process, we filled a civil rights and discrimination lawsuit in Federal court.

It may be more effective to contact the Board of Regents at this point.

Office of the Chancellor
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
Suite 7025
270 Washington Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30334
office: (404) 656-2202
fax: (404) 657-6979
email: chancellor@usg.edu

http://www.usg.edu/contact/
http://www.usg.edu/regents/members/

Join my Facebook group @ http://kennesaw.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6371166090

The story about the lawsuit has been heard across Georgia. Newspapers from Valdosta, Augusta, and Athens are reporting on the case. It's been discussed on television, radio, and Internet blogs. Prominent education journal "Inside Higher Ed" featured it on their front page.

http://mashable.com/2008/01/13/facebook-users-photo-led-to-expulsion-from-university/
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1664
http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/01/10/Valdosta_State_Student_Says_Facebook_Opinion_Resulted_in_Expulsion_From_School.htm
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011208/news_20080112030.shtml
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/local/local_story_011142725.html
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8794.html
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8796.html
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7612384

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. After backing out of a hearing procedure which they established to give an opportunity for due process, we filled a civil rights and discrimination lawsuit in Federal court.

It may be more effective to contact the Board of Regents at this point.

Office of the Chancellor
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
Suite 7025
270 Washington Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30334
office: (404) 656-2202
fax: (404) 657-6979
email: chancellor@usg.edu

http://www.usg.edu/contact/
http://www.usg.edu/regents/members/

Join my Facebook group @ http://kennesaw.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6371166090

The story about the lawsuit has been heard across Georgia. Newspapers from Valdosta, Augusta, and Athens are reporting on the case. It's been discussed on television, radio, and Internet blogs. Prominent education journal "Inside Higher Ed" featured it on their front page.

http://mashable.com/2008/01/13/facebook-users-photo-led-to-expulsion-from-university/
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1664
http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/01/10/Valdosta_State_Student_Says_Facebook_Opinion_Resulted_in_Expulsion_From_School.htm
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011208/news_20080112030.shtml
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/local/local_story_011142725.html
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8794.html
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8796.html
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7612384

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. After backing out of a hearing procedure which they established to give an opportunity for due process, we filled a civil rights and discrimination lawsuit in Federal court. It may be more effective to contact the Board of Regents at this point. Office of the Chancellor Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia Suite 7025 270 Washington Street, SW Atlanta, GA 30334 office: (404) 656-2202 fax: (404) 657-6979 email: chancellor@usg.edu http://www.usg.edu/contact/ http://www.usg.edu/regents/members/ Join my Facebook group @ http://kennesaw.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6371166090 The story about the lawsuit has been heard across Georgia. Newspapers from Valdosta, Augusta, and Athens are reporting on the case. It's been discussed on television, radio, and Internet blogs. Prominent education journal "Inside Higher Ed" featured it on their front page. http://mashable.com/2008/01/13/facebook-users-photo-led-to-expulsion-from-university/ http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1664 http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/01/10/Valdosta_State_Student_Says_Facebook_Opinion_Resulted_in_Expulsion_From_School.htm http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011208/news_20080112030.shtml http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/local/local_story_011142725.html http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8794.html http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8796.html http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7612384

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. After backing out of a hearing procedure which they established to give an opportunity for due process, we filled a civil rights and discrimination lawsuit in Federal court. It may be more effective to contact the Board of Regents at this point. Office of the Chancellor Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia Suite 7025 270 Washington Street, SW Atlanta, GA 30334 office: (404) 656-2202 fax: (404) 657-6979 email: chancellor@usg.edu http://www.usg.edu/contact/ http://www.usg.edu/regents/members/ Join my Facebook group @ http://kennesaw.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6371166090 The story about the lawsuit has been heard across Georgia. Newspapers from Valdosta, Augusta, and Athens are reporting on the case. It's been discussed on television, radio, and Internet blogs. Prominent education journal "Inside Higher Ed" featured it on their front page. http://mashable.com/2008/01/13/facebook-users-photo-led-to-expulsion-from-university/ http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1664 http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/01/10/Valdosta_State_Student_Says_Facebook_Opinion_Resulted_in_Expulsion_From_School.htm http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011208/news_20080112030.shtml http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/local/local_story_011142725.html http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8794.html http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8796.html http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7612384

It's Valdosta State. They are already on the bottom peg.

If anyone is interested in avoiding schools that trample on student's rights to free speech, there is a watchdog group that maintains a list of such institutions. http://www.thefire.org/

The appropriate group would more likely be the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)-- and sure enough, looking at their site, they already have picked it up. But the ACLU might get interested, too. If you go through the site, you'll see other similar cases. Most are political, but a few are exactly the same: student criticizes university, university bullies student into submission with non-judicial processes.

The next link down on the site is a good example. An student took some courses at a community college, and ended up with a shitty professor. When he dropped the class, he emailed his classmates and asked if any wanted to take the course with him at another school. So the college charged him with "hazing, disorderly conduct, breach of the peace, and failure to comply with directions of a college official". The first he heard of it was when he was notified that he'd been found guilty. When he tried to appeal, he found out that appeals are reviewed by the same staffer who makes the rulings in the first place. Later, when FIRE came to his defense and it became a national story, the college dropped the charges, then quietly reinstated them based on brand new accusations of disruptions in class-- charges much harder for him to defend himself against because then it's a he-said, she-said situation.

Colleges do this kind of stuff all the time. Even their so-called "judicial" processes are designed to look good on paper but completely betray the principles they teach in class.

Many years ago, I served with the student judicial committee in the university I was at at the time. They regularly practiced all kinds of shenanigans; their favorite trick was to have an administrator come in after we'd gone into deliberations to present new evidence that only we would know about and that the accused wasn't even aware of. I never said a word about it at the time because it just didn't occur to me how unfair the system was. Since then, I've become deeply ashamed at my lack of judgment. The student chairman, who played along with the administration's tactics as well, went on to become a researcher specializing in civil liberties.

Sleep well....

I stumbled across his treatment of free speech on his campus here, basically students have a tiny Free Speech zone where they can speak freely between 12 to 1 pm and 5 to 6 pm, as long as they give 48 hours notice and comply with onerous regulations about maintaining order and decorum. I get the feeling he doesn't quite grasp the whole first amendment thing.

Add this to:

- McCain-Feingold censoring of political speech that criticizes incumbent politicians before elections.
- Reinstitution of the fairness doctrine to censor all "controversial" broadcasts
- Opening the door for terrorists to sue ordinary citizens who say "I saw something suspicious" to security personnel
- PBS censors film for not being sensitive to radical "insurgents" who threaten folks who argue for moderation
- Don Imus shut up by Al Sharpton's forces
- Numerous incidents on college campuses

Free speech is too important. It needs to be protected and the Supreme Court isn't doing an adequate job (see the McCain-Feingold decision).

You coined the term now we want to now what's your agenda? I still believe
you are from one of these colleges that work hard to feminize whatever male
concept they can so why not start with the male sexual hormone and call that
a poison.

I suppose you can get away with it on campus where lumping the words poison
and testosterone together and maybe adding a little global warming or rainforst
defoliation gets the student population all riled up. Out here in the real world
however you are not dealing with a predictable crowd of insecure youngsters
eager to please and blend. I have enough cohones (full of the hormone I assure
you) to deal with you and if that upsets you then yes... in accordance with the
theory above... I enjoy your upset.

Btw... if you're at a college and in trouble for laughing at the wrong moment
(like when someone starts to talk about testosterone poisoning) go to
http://www.thefire.org/ Foundation for Individual's Rights in Education

This isn't an article about 10 civil liberties violations. It's '10 things I hate about the Bush administration'. Things like 'slagging the media', 'slagging the courts' and 'hubris' make it even though they aren't even civil liberties violations simply because they provide an opportunity to do some Bush bashing, whereas trans fat bans and university speech codes never rate a mention even though they arguably are civil liberties violations because they are liberal in origin.

"Do many institutions dedicated to higher learning engage in censorship?" and the answer is "No."

  Where

  have you

  been
  hiding?

The Torch is the weblog for FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a group which fights the pervasive threat against free expression by students, faculty, and staff at educational institutions. Public universities, as subsidiaries of the government, are bound by the US Constitution to protect, rather than hinder, our free speech rights, yet many public universities institute "speech codes" that outlaw unpopular or offensive speech.

Maybe I should have just linked their regular front page.

Do you mean 1918, 1861, or 1798?

Note that in each of those cases, we're talking about the highest levels of federal government taking overt acts to revoke our First Amendment rights. Compare that with this particular case of some local TSA moron doing something stupid.

Yes, I'm aware of the "free speech zones" at debates and conventions in recent elections, and I think they're a horrible idea, but at least in those cases it's motivated by the inability of police to guarantee the safety of the people both inside and outside the building when a terror target is that high-profile. On the other hand, those events are infrequent compared with the hindrances on free speech rights that take place at our public educational institutions every day, this time motivated by left-leaning political correctness advocates rather than by right-leaning Patriot Act advocates.

A parody of the current administration I can only assume...

That said, (some) colleges are actually becoming quite notorious for having plenty of "laws" on campus that abridge or ammend what many consider to be their inalienable freedom of speech. Sure, this goes back to the argument of Congress shall make no law, not "college campuses" or the like, but still...

Check out FIRE for an all-you-can-eat look at how colleges are indeed becoming politically correct havens of modified free-speech rules, inequity in education based on race, class, and sex, and the like.

Geist:
there are many groups (EFF, CDT, Public Knowledge, ACLU, EPIC, IP Justice, etc) that work in the area.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Center for Democracy & Technology

Public Knowledge

American Civil Liberties Union

Electronic Privacy Information Center

IP Justice

etc

Of course you have the right to critique your professors. They also have a right to fail you.
Conservative students are discriminated against in academia. Yes it is true.

It's no wonder that conservatives have lesser grades, the more so if their brains have been dumbed-down by religion.

In the example you give above, you complain that a student was expelled from an university for professing obsolete beliefs (corporal punishment). Universities being places of enlightenment, learning and intelligence, someone who is 200 years behind certainly has no place there.

Of course you have the right to critique your professors. They also have a right to fail you.
Conservative students are discriminated against in academia. Yes it is true.

It's no wonder that conservatives have lesser grades, the more so if their brains have been dumbed-down by religion.

In the example you give above, you complain that a student was expelled from an university for professing obsolete beliefs (corporal punishment). Universities being places of enlightenment, learning and intelligence, someone who is 200 years behind certainly has no place there.

Of course you have the right to critique your professors. They also have a right to fail you.

Conservative students are discriminated against in academia. Yes it is true.

What politics? Is it their assertion that freedom of speech extends to speech that other people may find offensive? That people shouldn't be punished for saying things that go against current ideas? That people should be treated equally, regardless of whatever racial, religious, or other group they belong to? Or am I missing something?

Also, if you'll take a look at FIRE's case listing, you'll see that they defend liberal speech as well as conservative.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education works to protect the free speech rights of students across the U.S., with a special focus on public colleges and universities, which are bound by Constitutional mandate to preserve freedom of speech. They are especially in need of donations from people who've already moved on to start their careers, since college students typically don't make that much money.

Freedom and Individual Rights in Education

They haven't taken up this case yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Perhaps now is the time to consider joining the EFF if you attend a private university and have a blog.

Perhaps. But the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education specializes in free-speech issues at educational institutions, rather than dealing with every conceivable online issue like the EFF does.

http://www.thefire.org/ is a good resource that does not try to pin ideology on these types of issues, however quite a few of them involve leftists imposing their ideology onto students and faculty.

Here are a couple of famous examples:

* Universities shutting down "Affirmative Action" bake sales
* The person who got booted out of a school for supporting corporal punishment

So to your statement that these things don't happen, I say hogwash. However, I can concede there are plenty of cries of "Wolf" amongst all the complaints. If a professor assigns some sort of assignment that requires a student to consider a different point of view, it is usually conservative students who whine and moan about not having their ideologies vomited out of the professor for them to munch up.

By all means, lets find examples on both sides of the political spectrum, but don't sit here and try to pretend it doesn't exist.

oh, would you mean like just about every case stated here??

yeah, if someone states a fact that is uncomfortable, its a troll.

i get how Slashdot groupthink works!

Jihad at San Francisco State

CU prof's essay sparks dispute - Prof Ward Churchill says 9/11 victims were not innocent people

USF Professor Sami Al-Arian calls for "Death of Israel" and "Damn America"

University of New Mexico Professor Richard Berthold addressed the terrorist attacks in his morning class on Western Civilization, remarking, "Anyone who can bomb the Pentagon has my vote

US Universities have been especially anti-American since the '60s.
Of course, they don't mind that the government helps to pay their salaries.

"The classic use for Freenet would be for a group of political dissidents in China, or even in the United States."

Yeah.

Because the United States and China are so similar when it comes to oppressing free speech and jailing political dissidents. It's clearly impossible in the US to criticize the government, or even have imagery of the president with a bullet hole in his head on the tob banner of your web site.

If anyone can give actual provable examples of the US government abridging Constitutionally protected free speech, I'd love to hear it.

(Note: traveling to Afghanistan, training in Taliban camps, and planning to blow up buildings in downtown Chicago with radiological dirty bombs is not "free speech".)

If you're looking for trampling of free speech, you needn't look to the government; you need only look no further than our own academic institutions.

Check out some of the cases on http://www.thefire.org

>Nobody in the mainstream media dares to say anything bad about the recently departed Pope, f'rinstance.

there's a difference between actively, with government help, SILENCEING people who say things against a political correctness, and simply not liking them.

There is a difference between the government using the force of law to silence someone with any number of 4th Amendment violations, and for the masses to simply be pissed as your ass.

f'rinstance.. "The Left" at Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, a student was, by the government of the state of california, told to remove a flyer from a wall because it was offensive, told to write a letter of apology because he offended a couple of easily offendable black folk, and was threatened with expulsion and forfieture of his tuition. That is ACTUAL censorship. That is done by the government against the people with the force of law.

on "The Right" - when we didn't like what the Dixie Chicks had to say, we didn't send Janet Reno out to get them to lay siege to their house longer than it took to take over Baghdad and then light it on fire... we simply stopped listening to the Dixie Chicks and buying their CDs.

there's a big fscking difference there, my friend.

Bullshit.

You can speak whatever you wish, obvious exceptions ("yelling fire in a movie theater, etc.) aside.

You have more chance of being ostracized or punished for unpopular speech at our nation's leading universities than by the government.

If you're the type of person who focuses in on all police/goverment/authority abuses, and only the abuses, and that's it, I've no doubt you steadfastly hold firm to your statements.

But you frankly have no idea what the FBI is going after this site for. I guarantee you it's not for talking trash about the President or revealing "the truth" about 9/11. We've got enough of that to fill a dozen Libraries of Congress. It's got to be something a fuck of a lot more substantial, and you know it, otherwise half of the blogs on the internet would be subpoenaed every day.

I know these words will be lost on many who read it, and the responses will vary from "FUCK YOU" (including half-assed attempts at jokes now that I said that) to various assertions that we're currently living in a police state, circa 1984. Please, get a grip on reality.

Find a way to get in touch with all those donor alumni and urge them to reconsider donating to a repressive and backward school.

Contact your local papers and tell them you are being falsly accused of a crime.

After High School, college is one of the most repressive environments you will ever be in, if you dare to oppose the political or social orthodoxy.

In short, fight the bastards. You will feel better for it, and you will learn a lot, win or lose.

As a rule, administrations don't like the light to shine on them. They will use thugish tactics to silence you. Read the FIRE guides and other information to understand your rights.

"Yet oddly enough my first amendment right to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater has been taken away."

*waves magic wand*
I have restored your first amendment right to yell Fire in a crowded theatre.
Use it wisely. Go in peace.

I was not really thinking of going very far back in history actually but that was pretty interesting. Plus if you really want to go far back in history you could also have pointed out that Lincoln (a Republican) did more to wrest control from the states than most other Presidents before and after.

Actually I am a firm believe in very small government. I do not believe the Libertarian party has the answer as I believe that their path would lead to more corporate power (they are already too strong) or anarchy (my opinion on what the actual result would seems to change based on the side of the bed I woke up on).

I am more of a Reagan Republican than I am of the current ilk in this party. My belief system more closely aligns now with the Constitution Party than any other actual political party.

I believe that the biggest example of excessive use of power on the left is the constant push for hate speech/hate crime laws. I truly believe if you kill someone (anyone) then you are probably a hate filled individual. I also believe that if I want to say really mean things to someone I should be able to (of course I may get punched for it but oh well). For specific examples of speech and opinion censorship look on many of our college campuses (campi?). FIRE. is sort of a watchdog group for freedom of expression on our campuses (again campi?).

As a side note, it seems to me (my opinion) that the left (and in the case the Democratic party) really does seem to want to promote class warfare. The party as a whole always seems to want to classify people into specific groups and then tell each group that the other one is being unfair and hates and deserves to be hated or resented. I believe that in the long run this is very destructive to the fiber of our country.

The point of the electronic demonstrations isn't to take down a site, according to Ricardo Dominguez, co-founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater, or EDT, which is releasing a FloodNet program of its own. Unlike hackers' denial-of-service attacks, which often hijack computers against their users' will, EDT's JavaScript-based software depends on how many people use the program. "It's a way to let people around the world gather and let their presence be felt," Dominguez said.

Not that he would mind if a Republican server just happened to crash along the way. In 2002, at the EDT's direction, 43,000 people flooded the site of the World Economic Forum during its meeting in New York. The organization's website went offline for several hours following the demonstration.

Anyone who speaks up is labeled a "racist conservative Nazi facist".

Personally, I am a die-hard freedom of expressing guy, and believe that you should be allowed to express whatever you want. Just be prepared for the firestorm of response, or worse, the deafening silence. A right to speak is not a right to be listened to.

Crispin