Allow me to take a moment to celebrate some good news coming out of the campus of West Virginia University. President David Hardesty
has announced his retirement from the school effective Sept. 20, 2007.
As a WVU graduate, Hardesty really didn’t understand his role as
university president and under his tenure the school has received a “Red Light” status from FIRE for numerous First Amendment violations on campus.
Hardesty
was notorious for the creation of speech zones on campus, especially
near the Mountainlair (student union), which is one of the most
congested traffic areas in Morgantown, W.Va. After a controversy
that included, if I remember correctly, student groups carrying a
casket with the words “free speech” on it down the steps in front of
the Mountainlair, the Board of Governors passed a policy that was less
harmful to the First Amendment.
By many in the WVU circles,
Hardesty will be regarded as the man who was president when the school
had some national successes in football and basketball (let’s not
forget he tried to control the tradition of setting couches on fire as
well). But, his legacy should also include how Hardesty attempted to do
an end around the First Amendment and lost.
