Monday, September 29, 2003

Hinkle and civility at 'Cal Porny' 

"Busy" Eugene Volokh is all over the Cal Poly-Hinkle case. The L.A. Times is covering Hinkle along with a proposed policy on downloading pornography at Cal Poly. In the article Volokh is quoted
Offensive speech is just something you will be exposed to at a university. Universities are inherently messy places and must provide maximum access to ideas, good or bad.
Volokh at his site later links to a copy of the policy on downloads, which it turns out
would have imposed a viewpoint-based restriction on sending or reading "racially or ethnically degarding material" (limited to non-University purposes, of course, but that would presumably cover a wide range of extracurricular student speech). It would have also prohibited any extracurricular sending or reading any description of lewd exhibitions of nudity, sexual excitement, or sexual conduct. (Emphasis in original.)
The proposers of the policy call themselves "Citizens for a More Civil Campus."

N.B.: Civility is viewpoint-based restriction. I wonder if these citizens gave any thought to Hinkle's treatment when he posted his flyer and when they held their hearing.

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