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Alumni Groups File Amicus Brief in Virginia Tech Free Speech Case

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James A. Bacon
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by James A. Bacon

The Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA) and alumni groups from nine colleges and universities, including The Jefferson Council, submitted an  amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday urging the court to hear a case brought by Speech First over the issue of bias reporting practices and procedures at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

“The use of bias reporting systems has become pervasive across American college and university campuses and these systems create a climate of fear and intimidation that causes many students to self-censor and discourages constitutionally protected speech,” said AFSA President Charles Davis. “These bias reporting systems have no place at a university whose defining purpose as a place of learning and human fulfillment can only be achieved through a steadfast commitment to free speech.”

From the brief:

Rather than adopting explicitly punitive speech codes or conditioning participation in university life on acceptance of prevailing views, colleges such as Respondent created “bias response” systems.

Bias response systems typically utilize automated, digital systems that collect information about students, including in many cases from anonymous sources; maintain records and files of information recorded about students that may become widely available to administrators and faculty; and have all the indicia of a university judicial body, including the ability to investigate transgressions, save one: they do not directly punish students. Instead, the teams administering bias response systems can, among other things, “determine if disciplinary action is appropriate,” “designate an administrator for follow-up,” and “implement appropriate restorative justice techniques or methods.”

Nearly every public institution of higher education in Virginia has a bias reporting system of some kind.

AFSA is an alliance of alumni groups from 22 colleges and universities with more than 50,000 alumni, faculty and student supporters. AFSA and its related groups seek to support free speech, academic freedom and viewpoint diversity at American colleges and universities.

The alumni groups joining AFSA in submitting the brief amicus curiae are:

University of California Free Speech Alliance:

Cornell Free Speech Alliance
Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse
The Generals Redoubt (Washington & Lee University)

Harvard Alumni for Free Speech
The Jefferson Council of the University of Virginia
MIT Free Speech Alliance

Princetonians for Free Speech
UNC Free Speech Alliance

Questions to AFSA may be directed to Charles Davis at (301) 531-5174 or
info@alumnifreespeechalliance.org.

James A. Bacon is executive director of The Jefferson Council.

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17 responses to “Alumni Groups File Amicus Brief in Virginia Tech Free Speech Case”

  1. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    Sounds familiar.

    China’s ‘social credit’ system ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy

    https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Coming soon to an internet provider near you!

      …

      1. walter smith Avatar
        walter smith

        Already here. “Reputational risk.” De-banking. Ad placement firms that boycott SPLC. entities listed as “hate.” J6 lawfare – geofencing works for enemies of SlowJoe, but not for ballot stuffing…
        ESG, etc.

      2. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        It’s not surprising that people would seek to do it. Human nature hasn’t changed.

        What’s surprising is the limited resistance in the land of the free, even from the organizations who formerly championed liberty and freedom of speech.

        It seems that ideology is everything, and tyranny is okay as long as the people doing it are on your team.

      3. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Yeah, but here it’s all about the Benjamins. No matter what your thoughts, more bandwidth can be had with more money… always.

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    I think Conservatives may have such high expectations of the newish “right” SCOTUS that they may well get disappointed, as SCOTUS is showing some signs that they are not the far right some would like them to be.

    “bias reporting systems” are used not only in higher ed but many other commercial, military and NGO entities.

    You go around shooting your mouth off in a workplace and it ain’t going to go well for you…. If it’s in their Standards of Conduct… it’s a condition of employment or even membership in some places.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/723a49d007ae98a8355bd417221373b229363599541adce05c946b1c79e6feca.jpg

    Is this guy gonna sue the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Is this guy gonna sue the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

      I don’t know. Who is he?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, has been removed from the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which he also helped found, one day after an interview with him was published in The New York Times in which he made comments that were widely criticized as sexist and racist

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Thanks.

          That’s Jann Wenner?

          In that case, it could not have happened to a more self-important, condescending, egotistical jerk.

        2. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Thanks.

          That’s Jann Wenner?

          That being the case, it could not have happened to a more self-important, condescending, egotistical jerk.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            but, but, whacked for exercising his free speech rights just like those other folks have been!

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            If he had spoken out against such “canceling” at some point during this century, then I might be able to generate some sympathy for him. However, he has been an active proponent of such “canceling” for decades. Now it has come back to bite him.

            As I said, it could not have happened to a more self-important, condescending, egotistical jerk.

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Uh, did you really mean to type “Virginia Tech”?

  4. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    The attached article is from 2015. I found this part rather interesting (emphasis mine):

    Western countries have their own culture of informing, analysts agreed: At work, people might report a colleague for stealing a computer mouse, for example, and at home, people might think nothing of reporting their neighbors for illegally burning dead leaves in the yard.

    The difference is that in Russia, people can report someone for allegedly offending their feelings, something that can neither be properly defined or investigated. While in the West snitching is a form of restoring order, in Russia it is used as a way to punish people, they said.

    “In Western societies there is no room for these groundless denouncements, because they would not have any effect. Here we have the opposite situation, where making baseless denouncements is institutionalized. For instance, the whole foreign agents law is one vast misinformation campaign,” said Gasan Guseinov, a prominent culturologist and philology professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2015/05/31/soviet-tradition-of-snitching-makes-comeback-in-russia-a46997

    It looks like certain people in this “Western society” want to move us towards the Russian model.

  5. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    VT’s bias reporting system is so wide open and loosely written. It is an invitation to disaster.
    https://dos.vt.edu/content/dam/dos_vt_edu/assets/doc/bias_protocol_2_16.pdf#:~:text=The%20Core%20Response%20Team%20will%20be%20called%20upon,and%20Residence%20Life%20Department%20where%20the%20incident%20occurred

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      It is pretty clear from reading the policy that once someone makes a complaint, it will be assumed that the accuser is telling the truth and that the person against whom the complaint was made is guilty.

      There is a list of steps the Core Response Team may take. It makes no mention whatsoever of a scenario in which the “Core Response Team” determines that the complaint is without merit.

      There is this little gem, though: Those involved will be given the opportunity to civilly discuss the incident with a trained professional and will be apprised of their options for resolving the incident. Translation: “You’re guilty. We know you are guilty. The only thing left is to try to get you to incriminate yourself further before we determine your punishment.”

      It is also evident to me from the language used that by default investigators will be trying to turn every alleged incident into a criminal matter. Why else would they include the following statement in their policy? Depending on the circumstances, a bias-related incident may not be a crime. Why would they put the word “not” in that sentence? Why not say: “Depending on the circumstances, a bias-related incident may be a crime”, followed by the procedures to be followed in the unlikely event an incident is determined to have a criminal element. It certainly appears they want most incidents to be crimes. This is a clear example of the overall “guilty until proven innocent” tone of the document.

      Finally, how about this call to lemming-like behavior? Virginia Tech is committed to stopping these behaviors. Because some incidents may be beyond the reach of policy and laws, it is imperative that the university respond as a unified community to denounce such behavior. “It is the sacred duty of each and every citizen to denounce enemies of the people, comrades”.

  6. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Uh, did you really mean to type “Virginia Tech”?

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