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FIRE presents the 2019 edition of its annual list of the 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech.
{Edited to add the part about Liberty U., due to popular demand.}
YourFiveHatsAreUp Retweeted
FIRE is not quite pleased to present the 2019 edition of our annual list of the 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech!
Which schools made the list?
https://www.thefire.org/10-worst-colleges-for-free-speech-2019/ …
Link to tweet
10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2019
by FIRE
Last Update February 12, 2019
....
Liberty University (Lynchburg, Va.)
If you promise free speech, you better deliver. Censoring the student newspaper is not delivering.
In 2016, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., proclaimed that the university “promotes the free expression of ideas unlike many major universities where political correctness prevents conservative students from speaking out.” What, then, do we make of repeated efforts by the school to censor its student newspaper, the Liberty Champion?
On Aug. 16, WORLD magazine issued a report alleging repeated efforts to silence the Liberty Champion that date back years. WORLD highlighted a 2016 situation when Falwell reportedly cut sports editor Joel Schmieg’s column criticizing President Donald Trump for saying he “grab[s] [women] by the pussy” during a leaked recording from a 2005 filming of “Access Hollywood.”
The censorship continued into 2018 when writer Jack Panyard’s article about unmarried pregnant students was cut before publication. It was his second article to be censored that year. Dean of the School of Communication and Digital Content Bruce Kirk warned Panyard that Liberty intended to restructure the Champion and that Panyard’s position of editor-in-chief would no longer exist, leading four members of the paper to resign. Kirk also reportedly told the Champion’s new staffers:
....
by FIRE
Last Update February 12, 2019
....
Liberty University (Lynchburg, Va.)
If you promise free speech, you better deliver. Censoring the student newspaper is not delivering.
In 2016, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., proclaimed that the university “promotes the free expression of ideas unlike many major universities where political correctness prevents conservative students from speaking out.” What, then, do we make of repeated efforts by the school to censor its student newspaper, the Liberty Champion?
On Aug. 16, WORLD magazine issued a report alleging repeated efforts to silence the Liberty Champion that date back years. WORLD highlighted a 2016 situation when Falwell reportedly cut sports editor Joel Schmieg’s column criticizing President Donald Trump for saying he “grab[s] [women] by the pussy” during a leaked recording from a 2005 filming of “Access Hollywood.”
The censorship continued into 2018 when writer Jack Panyard’s article about unmarried pregnant students was cut before publication. It was his second article to be censored that year. Dean of the School of Communication and Digital Content Bruce Kirk warned Panyard that Liberty intended to restructure the Champion and that Panyard’s position of editor-in-chief would no longer exist, leading four members of the paper to resign. Kirk also reportedly told the Champion’s new staffers:
“Your job is to keep the LU reputation and the image as it is. … Don’t destroy the image of LU. Pretty simple. OK? Well you might say, ‘Well, that’s not my job, my job is to do journalism. My job is to be First Amendment. My job is to go out and dig and investigate, and I should do anything I want to do because I’m a journalist.’ So let’s get that notion out of your head. OK?”
....
1 replies
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