Recall from Assignment #7 that the First Amendment bars Congress from infinging on the freedom of speech of the citizenry of the United States. It does not prohibit private restrictions on speech. With this in mind, many universities have over the years instituted speech codes or have banned hate-speech. More recently these codes have been extended to the electronic environment. While MIT has no published speech code or prohibition of hate mail at least one student was suspended for sending hate mail. The ruling sited MIT's Policy on Harassment.
Read The Tech Articles: MIT Homosexual Target of Hate Mail and MIT Suspends Student for Sending Hate Mail.
Read Dealing with Harassment at MIT, Chapter 2: Policies and Standards paying particular attention to the section on Freedom of Expression.
Regarding this policy, Harvey Silverglate (recall he was David LaMacchia's defense attorney) in his book The Shadow University says:
This seemingly balanced request to students to respect one another's rights and avoid open confkict is in ruth a call to self-censorship.that, although perfectly legal, might be found offensive. The code, however, does not suggest that students who are offended by someone's exercise of "freedom of expression" consider whether it is really in their interest to file a complaint. Most important, however, is the fact that in the final analysis, the MIT code, as with most speech restrictions that encourage self-censorship, does not rely only upon voluntary censorship, but also upon the coercive and punitive power of the institution. Self-censorship is not merely encouraged; it is required. The MIT code, after it defines "harassment" as a"any conduct, verbal or physical, on or off campus...which creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational ork or living environment, " goes on to warn that harassment may...lead to sanctions up to and including termination of...student status."
It appears that some MIT students felt the same when the book was initially distributed on campus. It was the first book to be burned on the campus.
To see other cases from MIT other universities check out: The MIT's Student Association for Freedom of Expression's archive of cases. In particular read about:
last updated 10/30/2001, by joanne@mit.edu