From Greg Lukianoff and Robert Shibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on the proliferation of speech codes on college campuses and what to do about it:
In order for the attitude of those in charge on campuses to change it’s necessary to alter the cost-benefit analysis they perform. There are a number of ways to do this.
Perhaps the most obvious is that colleges need to have more fear of First Amendment lawsuits and the resulting embarrassment. This could be accomplished several ways: a larger number of lawsuits, larger attorneys’ fees and judgments in such lawsuits, the piercing of the “qualified immunity” that keeps administrators off the hook for their terrible decisions greater awareness of the problem, and greater media attention to it.
Students and faculty members must also be willing to step up and take on their institutions in court. It’s hard to defend someone’s rights if they themselves will take no part in that defense. Faculty members (especially non-tenured) are often loath to take on powerful administrations who can make their working lives much harder, while students are easily intimidated by the legions of administrators who regulate every waking moment of their lives.
FIRE’s experience has actually been that students and faculty who take on their universities do not face much, if anything, in the way of retaliation. In fact, they are often praised by their peers and the national media as freedom fighters.
