Volume 8 / Number 1
Newsletter of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
In This Issue:
2 Temple University Charges
Unconstitutional ‘Security’ Fee
for Geert Wilders Event
3 FIRE Urges Ninth Circuit To
Defend First Amendment on
Campus in ‘Ask God What Your
Grade Is’ Lawsuit
4 FIRE Celebrates Ten Years with
Dinner in New York City
6 From the Campus
Freedom Network
8 New Reprimand Issued Against
Professor for Unspecified
‘Offensive’ Speech Without Any
Notice, Evidence, or Hearing
9 Campus Speech Codes Trend
Lower, but More Than 70
Percent of Colleges Restrict
Free Speech
10 From the Director of the
Individual Rights Defense
Program: Universities Have a
Long Way to Go
11 Fanning the Flames:
See What Your Support Made
Possible in 2009!
12 The Last Word: Reflecting on
Ten Years of FIRE with New
Video
601 Walnut Street • Suite 510
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.717.3473 tel
215.717.3440 fax
www.thefire.org
Winter 2010
Victory for Freedom of Conscience as University of
Minnesota Backs Away from Ideological Screening
for Ed Students
In response to sustained pressure from were to reveal a “pervasive stereotype” that they personally
FIRE, the University of Minnesota–Twin held and then demonstrate how their experiences had
Cities has backed away from its plans to “challenged” it. They also were to be assessed regarding “the
enforce a political litmus test for future extent to which they find intrinsic satisfaction” in being in
teachers. The plans from its College of
Education and Human Development (CEHD)
“culturally diverse situations.”
involved redesigning admissions and the FIRE wrote University of Minnesota President Robert H.
curriculum to enforce an ideology centered
Bruininks about these plans on November 25. In response,
on a narrow view of “cultural competence.”
General Counsel Mark B. Rotenberg promised that “[n]o
Those with the “wrong” views were to
receive remedial re-education, be weeded
out, or be denied admission altogether. In a
letter to FIRE, however, the university’s top
lawyer has now promised that the university
will never “mandate any particular beliefs,
or screen out people with ‘wrong beliefs’
from the University.”
“We are relieved that the University of Minnesota has finally
committed itself to upholding the freedom of conscience of
its students,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said.
“Prospective teachers will keep the right to have their own
thoughts, values, and beliefs. FIRE will continue to monitor Photo credit: Arthur Smith
the situation to make sure that the university does not define
‘cultural competence’ or ‘dispositions’ requirements in a way University policy or practice ever will mandate any particular
that interferes with individual rights.” beliefs, or screen out people with ‘wrong beliefs’ from the
University.”
The proposal, initiated by the college’s Race, Culture, Class,
and Gender Task Group, sought to require each future “The next version of the college’s plans must reflect this
teacher to accept theories of “white privilege, hegemonic promise,” said Adam Kissel, Director of FIRE’s Individual
masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression”; Rights Defense Program. “To learn about other cultures is
“develop a positive sense of racial/cultural identity”; and one thing, but the college may not demand that future
“recognize that schools are socially constructed systems that teachers hold certain moral and political ‘dispositions’ or
are susceptible to racism ... but are also critical sites for social specific views about pedagogy. Not all great teachers have
and cultural transformation.” They were to be judged by the same views about politics or education.”
their scores on the Intercultural Development Inventory, a
test of “Intercultural Sensitivity.” In one assignment, they
1
 Temple University Charges
Unconstitutional ‘Security’ Fee
for Geert Wilders Event
Dutch politician Geert Wilders' trial over his controversial remarks about terrorism and Islam began in
Amsterdam on January 20th. While such a trial would be unconstitutional in the United States thanks to the
First Amendment, students at Temple University in Philadelphia are nevertheless facing an unconstitutional,
after-the-fact security fee levied by the university for hosting a presentation by Wilders. The student group,
Temple University Purpose (TUP), turned to FIRE for help.
"Temple University needs to realize that, unlike in the Netherlands,
controversial speech is protected in the United States," said Robert
Shibley, FIRE's Vice President. "In our nation, it is unconstitutional to
charge a student group extra fees for security simply because a speaker's
views are controversial or don't meet with the approval of Temple
University administrators."

TUP hosted the event featuring Wilders in Temple's Anderson Hall on

October 20, 2009. Wilders came to notice in the United States largely
through the controversy surrounding his short film Fitna, released in
2008, which features various passages of the Koran interspersed with
scenes or descriptions of violence or hatred on the part of Muslims. The
movie was shown as part of his presentation at Temple. Extra security
was provided for the event, which proceeded without disturbance. Dutch politician Geert Wilders speaks at Temple University.
Photo credit: Front Page Magazine
More than a month later, on December 3, TUP was surprised with a bill
from Temple for $800 for "Security Officer," with the explanation that
it might offend a hostile mob." As a public university, Temple is bound
the charge was for the costs "to secure the room and building." TUP
by the Supreme Court's decision. Four other public universities—the
Interim President Brittany Walsh pointed out in an e-mail to
University of Colorado at Boulder; University of Massachusetts
administrators that Temple had said before the event that the university
Amherst; University of California, Berkeley; and University of
would pay any extra security costs, but she received no substantive reply
Arizona—abandoned such security fees in FIRE cases last year. Hart has
even after repeated e-mails. Frustrated with the university's demand for
not responded to FIRE's letter.
payment and subsequent lack of explanation, Walsh and TUP turned to
FIRE. Adam Kissel, Director of FIRE's Individual Rights Defense Program,
who attended the Wilders event at Temple, said, "This is hardly the first
In a letter to Temple University President Ann Weaver Hart, FIRE
time that Temple University has ignored its constitutional responsibilities.
described the university's constitutional responsibility to pay for any extra
Less than two years ago, Temple's speech code was struck down by the
security it deemed necessary for the event. FIRE cited the U.S. Supreme
Third Circuit. When will Temple finally start taking the First
Court's decision in Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (1992),
Amendment seriously?"
which struck down a local government's increased fee for police
protection for controversial events because "Speech cannot be financially
burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because

2 Fall 2009
FIRE Urges Ninth Circuit To
Defend First Amendment on
Campus in ‘Ask God What
Your Grade Is’ Lawsuit
FIRE has filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a
July 2009 decision by a federal district court finding the Los Angeles Community College District’s (LACCD’s)
speech code unconstitutional. LACCD’s code prohibits, among other things, “generalized sexist statements” and
“actions and behavior that convey insulting, intrusive or degrading attitudes/comments about women or men.”

“Despite over two decades of federal jurisprudence finding policies permitted to stand, it would gravely endanger the free speech rights of
precisely like LACCD’s unconstitutional, LACCD is shamefully LACCD students and exacerbate the free speech crisis on America’s
attempting to deny its students the First Amendment rights to which they college campuses.
are legally entitled,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “FIRE’s brief
“By continuing to defend an indefensible and unconstitutional speech
explains why the Ninth Circuit must affirm the district court’s decision
code with this appeal, LACCD has proven not only that it does not care
and make LACCD’s sexual harassment policy the latest addition to an
about its students’ First Amendment rights, but also that it doesn’t care
unbroken string of unconstitutional codes struck down in federal court.”
about wasting taxpayer dollars to argue against the Bill of Rights in
The lawsuit against LACCD was filed in the United States District Court court,” said Will Creeley, FIRE’s Director of Legal and Public Advocacy.
for the Central District of California in February 2009 by attorneys from “FIRE is confident that the Ninth Circuit will recognize the
the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on behalf of Los Angeles City College impermissible flaws in LACCD’s policy and reject this misguided appeal.”
student Jonathan Lopez. Prior to filing suit, Lopez had been berated in
his Speech 101 class by his professor, who disagreed with Lopez’s
reference to his religious views and experiences. The professor refused to
grade Lopez’s classwork, telling him to “Ask God what your grade is.”
Lopez’s ordeal received national attention.

In July 2009, United States District Judge George H. King granted Lopez
a preliminary injunction barring LACCD from enforcing its sexual
harassment policy, declaring that the policy violated the First Amendment
rights of Lopez and his fellow students by “prohibit[ing] a substantial
amount of protected free speech.” In September 2009, Judge King
denied LACCD’s motion for reconsideration of his earlier ruling. Judge
King observed that LACCD “ha[d] shown no valid reason” to overturn
the injunction, and he characterized LACCD’s arguments as “scattershot
and disjointed.” LACCD then appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

FIRE’s brief, filed by FIRE Legal Network attorney Timothy Smith,

points out that LACCD’s policy contradicts both decades of legal
precedent and the guidance of the federal Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for enforcing harassment
laws on campus. FIRE’s brief argues that if LACCD’s policy were

3
 FIRE Celebrates Ten
Years with Dinner in
On October 22, 2009, FIRE celebrated
its 10th anniversary with a reception
and dinner at the beautiful Mandarin

New York City

Oriental in New York City.

FIRE board member Virginia Postrel entertained the audience as the

Mistress of Ceremonies. She noted how 71% of colleges and universities
maintain policies that restrict students’ rights to free expression and how
hard FIRE is working to reform these policies. a decade is a manageable chunk of time.
FIRE has done about 20 years worth of work
and of good since its founding in 1999. At
Throughout 2009, the excitement grew for the anniversary meeting and dinner, we are
FIRE’s 10th anniversary year. On October planning to do 30 years worth in FIRE’s
22, this excitement culminated in New York second decade.”
City, when over 200 friends and supporters of
FIRE convened at the beautiful Mandarin With the close of our first decade, FIRE is
Oriental for FIRE’s 10th Anniversary already looking ahead to another ten years of
Celebration Dinner. great work in the
defense of
Dinner guests spent individual liberty
the evening reflecting on campus. We
on FIRE’s ten-year again would like
history, during which to thank every-
FIRE has grown from one who joined
a fledgling organization us at our cel-
to a powerful leader in ebration—it was
the campus reform wonderful to see
movement and a force all of you and to
The program featured several inspiring to be reckoned with on celebrate with
speeches including remarks from FIRE college campuses. you! It’s not
President Greg Lukianoff and Board FIRE Co-founder and Legendary columnist, civil libertarian, and jazz critic often that FIRE
Chairman Harvey A. Silverglate. UCLA Chairman Harvey Sil- Nat Hentoff, served as the Honorary Dinner hosts big events,
law professor and creator of the “Volokh verglate commented on Chairman. so the oppor-
Conspiracy” blog Eugene Volokh the occasion of FIRE’s tunity to spend an
engaged the crowd with a thoughtful tenth anniversary, saying, “Marking time by evening in the company of our friends and
and reflective keynote address. decades makes a certain amount of sense, as allies was truly special.

4 Fall 2009
 Thank you to the more
than 200 friends, donors,
and allies who joined us in
New York to reflect on the
work FIRE has done in the
past ten years and to look
forward to a future where
liberty is a reality on college
campuses. For those
Quarterly readers who
couldn’t make it, know that
we were only able to
achieve this important
milestone because of your
support, and we hope to
see you at our next big
celebration.

Our diverse and impressive Honorary Vice Chairs included FIRE

friends Dave Barry, John Stossel, Alan Charles Kors, Nadine
Strossen, Penn Jillette, Wendy Kaminer, and Steven Pinker.

FIRE’s first-ever Prometheus Award was bestowed upon two

professors, Jan Blitz and Linda Gottfredson, who courageously
and publicly defended the rights of students at the University of
Delaware who were subjected to an Orwellian thought-reform
program in the fall of 2007.

The event was also the premiere of FIRE's 10th anniversary

commemorative film, "Reflecting on 10 Years of FIRE," by
filmmaker Andrew Marcus. The film features the stories of
students and professors who have been part of some of FIRE's
most outrageous cases over the years, as well as a brief
interview with humorist Dave Barry.

5
 From the

CFN Receives Templeton

Freedom Award
This fall, the Campus Freedom
Network was awarded a prestigious
Templeton Freedom Award for
Student Outreach for its outstanding
work on college campuses.

The Templeton Freedom Award for Student Outreach

was established in 2003 through funding from the John
Templeton Foundation. The Atlas Economic Research
Foundation bestows the $10,000 award, which is named
for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John
Luke Sheahan, Brandon Stewart, and Greg Lukianoff with the Templeton, on two organizations each year that have
Templeton Freedom Award
worked successfully to advance the cause of liberty
among young minds worldwide. FIRE’s Campus Freedom Network, which brings together energetic students and faculty
members to work to change illiberal and unconstitutional campus policies, is only the second American organization to win
the award.

The Templeton Freedom Award was presented to FIRE at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s 2009 Freedom Dinner
& Conference at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., on November 9, 2009. The dinner’s keynote address
was delivered by FIRE Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Alan Charles Kors, while FIRE President Greg Lukianoff
participated in a panel entitled “Engaging the Next Generation in the Project of Advancing Liberty” earlier that day.

PLEASE VISIT

for comprehensive information on the state of liberty on America’s

campuses, including pages for individual academic institutions, relevant
links to our research of speech codes, and case materials from FIRE’s
Individual Rights Defense Program.

6 Fall 2009
 CFN Member Gets the College of William & Mary to
Abolish Speech Codes, Receive ‘Green-Light’ Rating
In October, the College of William & Mary eliminated
the last of its troublesome policies and FIRE officially
gave the college’s policies a green-light rating in
Spotlight, our speech code database. The change
came after former FIRE intern and Campus Freedom
Network member Braum Katz led a reform effort from
within the student government as Student Assembly
Secretary of Student Rights to revise
constitutionally problematic speech codes.
After returning to W&M as a sophomore in the fall of 2007
following his FIRE internship, Braum immediately set to work to
change W&M’s problematic policies, including the policies on
harassment, discrimination, and distribution and posting. By the
end of the spring of 2008, the W&M administration agreed to
examine the policies Braum brought to its attention. The Virginia
Informer, an independent campus publication, described the
importance of Braum’s work for individual rights at W&M at the
time:
‘Freedom of speech is an individual right that is at the very
heart of this nation. Such freedoms are something to be
treasured in universities, where new ideas are the lifeblood of
“I am extremely proud of all the
work that the students and
administration of The College of
William & Mary have done
together to ensure that no
student need fear exercising his
or her First Amendment rights.
The efforts of William & Mary
students to green-light the
university demonstrates that
when students make demands
grounded in both in law and
moral integrity, administrations
will listen and policies can
change. These changes
represent in a very palpable way
the spirit of our College, the alma
mater of some of our nation’s Braum Katz
premier civil libertarians.” CFN Member and Former
FIRE Intern
the academic world. Currently, many within the William and
Mary administration seem to understand the inherent worth
of allowing free speech on campus. But there are more steps
that need to be taken to ensure this is maintained and
expanded. The first step must be to reform our speech code,
transitioning us from a “red light” to a “green light”
university, as awarded by the Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education (FIRE).’
all
In February of 2008, Greg spoke at W&M and called upon the
college to abolish its speech codes and uphold the rights of its
students. Greg’s speech was co-sponsored by the W&M Student
Assembly’s Department of Student Rights, where Braum then
served as Undersecretary of Student Rights for Free Speech
Advocacy.
Last month, we received word that W&M had indeed revised a
vague and overbroad Internet posting policy and eliminated a ban
on anonymous postings, and we reported this happy development
on The Torch. We also noted that one problematic policy remained:
the Equal Opportunity Office’s policy on “discrimination”
provided several examples of purported harassment that were
actually hypothetical incidents of constitutionally protected
expression. Samantha wrote:
‘W&M could very easily make the necessary revisions to this
policy. The actual definition of harassment provided is not
problematic; it is the list of examples, which contradicts the
definition by including instances of protected speech, that is
the problem. By simply doing away with the examples list,
W&M could eliminate the problems with its policy, and we
urge them to do so.’
Now that W&M has done away with the examples, its policies no
longer threaten the First Amendment rights of its students.
It is sad but true that few college and university presidents possess
the courage to make their policies comport with the free speech
protections of the First Amendment. Thankfully, W&M President
Taylor Reveley has that courage. We congratulate President Reveley
and the W&M community on their dedication to First Amendment
rights and we especially thank Braum Katz for his commitment to
safeguarding the rights of his fellow students.
7
 New Reprimand Issued Against
Professor for Unspecified ‘Offensive’
Speech Without Any Notice,
Evidence, or Hearing
Under pressure from FIRE, East Georgia College (EGC) has withdrawn an
unfounded charge of “sexual harassment” against a professor who criticized
the school’s sexual harassment policy. EGC President John B. Black
dismissed Professor Thomas Thibeault from campus and had him escorted
from campus by police in August, without a hearing or even knowing who his
accuser was or what the charges or evidence against him were. Thibeault was
finally notified on October 20 that he had been reinstated due to lack of
evidence, but Black has now violated Thibeault’s free speech and due process
rights again by issuing Thibeault a “reprimand” for unspecified “offensive”
speech—again without presenting any notice, hearing, evidence, or witnesses.
Thomas Thibeault
“This case is far from over,” FIRE President Greg a.m. or be fired and have his “long history of sexual also stated that “you must show better judgment
Lukianoff said. “President Black has added to his harassment ... made public.” Black added that Police and discretion in the future when engaging in
blatant abuses of power by reprimanding Professor Chief Drew Durden would escort Thibeault from discussions in the public work setting.” Once again,
Thibeault for his speech, but never bothering to campus and that he had notified the local police that the reprimand failed to provide any evidence,
mention precisely what his offense was. Black has Thibeault should be arrested for trespassing if he notice, hearing, or witnesses.
already retaliated against Thibeault by informing returned. Thibeault was never presented with any
Furthermore, on October 27, Vice President for
him that his contract would not be renewed after charges against him or given a chance to offer a
Academic Affairs Tim Goodman began demanding
the spring semester. The bullying tactics at this defense. Refusing to resign, Thibeault understood
that Thibeault sign a statement that “some of what
college are breathtaking.” that he was fired, and Durden escorted him from
he has said in the past has bothered some people”
campus.
Thibeault’s ordeal started shortly after an August 5, as a condition of his return to work. The statement
2009, faculty training session on the college’s sexual Black also sent Thibeault a letter notifying Thibeault also provided no evidence whatsoever for the claim
harassment policy during which he related a story that his contract would not be renewed for the that “some are fearful that he will lose his temper
about another professor and asked, “What 2010-2011 academic year. Thibeault requested the and do something rash,” a line that appears to be
provision is there in the sexual harassment policy to charges and a hearing on August 28, but Black never intended to disparage Thibeault and mar his
protect the accused against complaints which are fulfilled his promise and the Georgia Attorney reputation.
malicious or, in this case, ridiculous?” Vice General’s Office began to intervene. Black finally
“EGC and President Black have utterly failed to
President for Legal Affairs Mary Smith, who was wrote on October 20 that “I have made the decision
meet their constitutional and moral obligation to
conducting the session, replied that there was no that the evidence does not warrant the charge of
respect freedom of speech, academic freedom, and
such provision to protect the accused, so Thibeault sexual harassment.”
due process,” said Adam Kissel, Director of FIRE’s
responded that “the policy itself is flawed.”
Yet even then, Black compounded the violations of Individual Rights Defense Program. “Black has
Two days later, Thibeault was summoned to Thibeault’s rights, adding that the letter was a punished protected speech without any due process
President Black’s office. According to Thibeault’s “reprimand to you for the use of offensive language whatsoever, and he has threatened further
written account of the meeting, which Black and angry outbursts in your past interactions with disciplinary action if someone else merely sends in
received but has never disputed, Black told your colleagues. This letter is further a warning that, a complaint. Meanwhile, he has not lifted his
Thibeault that he “was a divisive force in the if I receive any complaints ... you may face further retaliatory decision to not rehire Thibeault for the
college” and that Thibeault must resign by 11:30 disciplinary action including termination.” Black next academic year.”

8 Winter 2010
 Campus Speech Codes Trend
Lower, but More Than 70 Percent
of Colleges Restrict Free Speech
FIRE has released its 2010 report on campus speech codes, revealing that for the
second year in a row, the percentage of American colleges and universities that
systematically violate students’ and faculty members’ right to freedom of expression
has dropped. However, 71 percent of the 375 campuses analyzed still maintain codes
that grant students less freedom of speech than they enjoy off campus.
Spotlight on Speech Codes 2010: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Spotlight on Speech Codes 2010: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s
Campuses reports on policies at 375 of the largest and most Campuses also discusses the emerging trend of universities stifling
prestigious American colleges and universities. FIRE found that open debate on campus by charging student groups onerous and
while the percentage of public campuses that unconstitutionally often unconstitutional security fees for bringing controversial
restrict student speech dropped from 77 percent to 71 percent, the speakers to campus. Such incidents have occurred in the last few
percentage of private campuses that similarly restrict freedom of years at the University of California at Berkeley, University of
speech has risen by 3 points from 67 to 70 percent. Massachusetts Amherst,
University of Colorado at
“It is an ongoing scandal that so many public and private colleges
Boulder, University of
and universities maintain rules that so blatantly flout our
Arizona, and elsewhere.
Constitution and our national traditions of freedom of speech
and academic freedom,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “Thanks in large part to
“Universities should serve as the ultimate free speech zones for FIRE’s work, the percentage
our society. We are encouraged, though, that the percentage of of universities maintaining
public universities that maintain unconstitutional codes is slowly unconstitutional speech
shrinking.” codes has decreased for the
second year in a row, which
FIRE’s fourth annual report is the largest and most
is heartening,” said Will
comprehensive effort to date both to quantify the proportion of
Creeley, FIRE’s Director of
colleges and universities that restrict free speech and to assess the Download the report at
Legal and Public Advocacy.
severity of those restrictions. The report surveys publicly available thefire.org/code/speechcodereport/
“But it remains completely
policies at institutions ranked in the 100 “Best National
unacceptable that the vast
Universities” and at the 50 “Best Liberal Arts Colleges,” as rated
majority of campuses restrict student speech, betraying the
in the 2008 “America’s Best Colleges” issue of U.S. News & World
university’s role as the ultimate marketplace of ideas. FIRE will
Report. FIRE also researched codes at more than 200 additional
work to eliminate speech codes until no unconstitutional and
major public institutions. The research was conducted between
illiberal policies remain.”
September 2008 and September 2009.

Want more FIRE news and views? Check out The Torch, FIRE’s blog,
for daily updates at www.thefire.org/torch.

9
 From the Director of
the Individual Rights
Defense Program:
Universities Have a Long
Way to Go
By Adam Kissel
When I speak at a college or university, I usually start with an eye-opening list of violations of
individual rights on campus from the past couple of years. Even the sponsors of the lecture often
say something like, “I knew the situation on campus was bad, but I never imagined just how bad!”
There’s the student who was expelled because of a collage of images he
posted on Facebook. There’s the one found guilty of racial harassment
for reading an anti-Klan book that had burning crosses on the cover.
The two found guilty of sexually related violence for posting a flyer that
parodied gender studies topics. And the one who was banned from e-
mailing fellow students after he encouraged them to join him in
dropping a course.
Then there’s the publication found guilty of racial harassment for its
parody of affirmative action and for publishing uncomplimentary facts
about radical Islam. The improvisational comedy troupe punished for
posting promotional flyers that some faculty members interpreted as
racist because it reminded them of racial stereotypes from an earlier
generation. The student government leader found guilty as a spammer
because she e-mailed a selected group of faculty members about
imminent changes to the campus calendar. It goes on and on.
One of my favorite examples of administrators’ abuse of authority in
2009 comes from Bucknell University, where students were prohibited
from holding an “affirmative action bake sale” because an administrator
said it was inappropriate to discuss an issue such as affirmative action in
the public areas of campus.
And just a couple of months ago, Yale’s freshman class was pressured
by Yale deans to pull the design of a democratically chosen anti-Harvard
T-shirt prior to the Harvard-Yale football game. The T-shirt, quoting a
novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s in which a character says he thinks of
Harvard men as “sissies,” was deemed too offensive for fragile Yale
students to handle.
10 Winter 2010
Adam Kissel
The Yale case is a wonderful example of the unintended consequences
of censorship. Censors often find, to their chagrin, that banning a word
or an idea provides it with a thousand times more notoriety than it ever
would have had on its own. Blogger after blogger has now taken the
opportunity to call Yale students, Harvard students, and Yale
administrators “sissies.” Far from re-educating the public to think of the
term as an anti-gay slur, the Yale censors have given new life to a term
that was disappearing from many people’s daily vocabulary.
The Publishers Weekly book review of John Strausbaugh’s Sissy Nation:
How America Became a Culture of Wimps & Stoopits (2008) states that
Strausbaugh’s “distaste for our growing culture of fat, soft, stupid,
fearful, whiny, infantile, narcissistic, fatalistic, group-thinking victims
emanates from every page.” To the extent that this culture is being
cultivated by administrative censors at America’s colleges and
universities, FIRE has plenty of work ahead of us. Our universities are
far from being true marketplaces of ideas.
Adam Kissel graduated from Harvard University and from the University of Chicago, where
he served as Student Liaison to the Board of Trustees and earned a master's degree from the
Committee on Social Thought. His academic interests include the history and theory of liberal
education, the history and theory of rhetoric, and rhetoric's relationship with philosophy. He
also has served as a professional editor for Nobel laureate James Heckman and for faculty in
a variety of disciplines. Before joining FIRE, Adam was a director of the Lehrman American
Studies Center and the Jack Miller Center for the Teaching of America's Founding Principles.
With Sharon Browne, he wrote a Faculty Rights Handbook in 2007. Since joining FIRE,
he has spoken about individual rights on college campuses in Colorado, Indiana, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, and New York. In 2009, he won a First Prize in
education reporting from the National Education Writers Association.

About the
Publication
The FIRE Quarterly is published four
times per year by the Foundation for
Individual Rights in Education.
The mission of FIRE is to defend and
sustain individual rights at America’s
increasingly repressive and partisan
colleges and universities. These rights
include freedom of speech, legal
equality, due process, religious liberty,
and sanctity of conscience—the
essential qualities of individual liberty
and dignity. FIRE’s core mission is to
protect the unprotected and to educate
the public and communities of
concerned Americans about the threats
to these rights on our campuses and
about the means to preserve them.
FIRE is a charitable and educational
tax-exempt foundation within the
meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to
FIRE are deductible to the fullest extent
provided by tax laws.
HOW TO REACH US:
601 Walnut Street • Suite 510
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.717.3473 tel
215.717.3440 fax
www.thefire.org
Fanning the Flames:
See What Your Support
Made Possible in 2009!
The generosity and support of our donors and friends made 2009
a landmark year for FIRE. We not only celebrated a significant
milestone with our tenth anniversary, but we also made great
strides in the fight to restore liberty to our nation’s campuses.
None of this would have been possible without supporters like
you, and so we want to share with you just a few of the many
accomplishments you helped us achieve in 2009.
• With your support in 2009, FIRE won 29 public victories for students and faculty
members at 26 colleges and universities with a total enrollment of nearly 700,000
students. To date, FIRE has won victories affecting more than 2.7 million students on
campuses nationwide.
• After supporters stepped up at the beginning of 2009 to give to the Campus Freedom
Network (CFN) Matching Gift Fund, FIRE’s grassroots network continued its
momentum as a powerful force for change on campus, adding more than 2,000 new
members. With a total membership of more than 3,300 students, faculty, and alumni
from more than 1,250 schools across the nation, the CFN has grown into such an
effective program that in 2009 FIRE became just the second American organization to
win the Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s Templeton Freedom Award for
Student Outreach. This award recognized the CFN’s successful work advancing the
cause of liberty among young minds.
• FIRE launched an exciting new Legal Transformation Project in 2009, which bridges
our education and defense programs in an effort to generate lasting change in the
repressive culture of our nation’s campuses by reaching out to the policymakers who
have created this culture: college and university administrators. With the help of
ongoing pressure from friends and allies like you, we witnessed a significant drop in the
percentage of schools maintaining unconstitutional speech codes in 2009, and with
your continued advocacy and the launch of this new initiative—which has set the stage
for the 2010 launch of the largest legal push to abolish speech codes in FIRE’s
history—we believe we will see an even greater decrease over the next year.
Your support made all this and so much more possible in 2009, and as we move into a new year
and a new decade fighting to bring liberty and freedom to campuses across the country, we hope
you will continue to partner with us by renewing your support.
To read about more of FIRE’s 2009 accomplishments, please visit us at
www.thefire.org/09accomplishments.
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FIRE thanks all of its supporters for their dedication to FIRE and its mission.
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If you would like to donate to FIRE, please visit www.thefire.org/support or call 215.717.3473.

The Last Word:

Reflecting on Ten Years of FIRE

with New Short Film
At FIRE’s ten-year anniversary celebration in New York
City, we unveiled our latest video, “Reflecting on Ten
Years of FIRE.”
Created by FIRE friend Andrew Marcus, the short film highlights some of the best
victories (and worst cases) from FIRE’s ten-year history—from the University of
Delaware case to IUPUI, as well as cases from FIRE’s early days, including the case
of Professor Hearlson following 9/11. The video also incorporates our interview
with Dave Barry and half a dozen brief interviews with students and professors
who were censored on campus, including KC Johnson, Chris Lee, Andre Massena,
and Sean Clark. You can view the video at youtube.com/users/theFIREorg.
Students congratulate FIRE on ten years of defending individual
rights on campus in new short film.

12 Fall 2009