FIRE's Robert Shibley wonders whether the new "speech code" imposed against eighteen schools by the rest of the NCAA will sensitize those universities' presidents to the use of speech codes elsewhere on campuses.

This is no different from hundreds of FIRE cases in which students who run afoul of administrative speech restrictions are threatened with severe punishment�and are given no recourse except an appeal to the public or a lawsuit. It�s a very uncomfortable position in which to find oneself. If nothing else comes of this controversy, we can at least hope that being subjected to a vaguely defined and therefore unreasonable speech code will give college administrators some sympathy for the students they regularly torment with similar policies.

And sue they will.

The local paper seeks further censorship on those campuses.

Yet equally frustrating about the new policy is its limited reach. It only applies to NCAA-sponsored postseason play. If the NCAA is serious about removing offensive symbols and actions, it should demand member conferences adopt similar measures during regular-season play.

The irony of placing a plug of "Day XX: The First Amendment Held Hostage" (marking Judith Miller's continued refusal to name a source in response to a subpoena) and this call for encroaching on universities' First Amendment rights is probably lost on the editorial writers at the St. Cloud Times.