Thursday, December 22, 2005
Orwell would love DePaul
On November 23, FIRE wrote to DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider to protest the university�s actions, urging the Catholic institution to reject �policies that place students� individual rights and personal integrity at the mercy of university officials who are free to censor students at will.� Holtschneider replied on December 12, incorrectly claiming that the word �propaganda� is not part of any policy at DePaul. Nevertheless, he defended DePaul�s policy, insisting that it �is enforced equally for all topics and positions. Advertisements of speakers are posted. Denunciations of speakers are not posted.� Yet FIRE�s research shows that the policy was amended to reflect this only after the College Republicans� flyers were denied approval.Enforced equally? Well, perhaps: There was a set of posters for student government in 2003 that included statements about kicking Coca-Cola off campus for its international labor practices, and these were reportedly taken down (source). But given the rest of DePaul's politics, it's hard to believe that DePaul wasn't taking a small peek at viewpoint when deciding who got to see Churchill.
�It is immoral for DePaul to expect its students to abide by a policy that is selectively enforced, constantly shifting, and disavowed even by the university�s president,� said [FIRE director Greg] Lukianoff. �DePaul�s Orwellian attempts to rewrite history by changing its policies without notice�and then using the changes to retroactively justify repression�are also extremely disturbing.�
As for Churchill? Must have been a fine time had by all.
Categories: higher_ed