[1514] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
10 years of controversy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ray Jones)
Thu Oct 16 15:03:01 2003
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 14:30:31 -0400
From: Ray Jones <thouis@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
Of course, all of my arguments have been made before, and more
fluently by others. When the harassment policy in its current form
was written (improving something even worse), it immediately generated
a great deal of controversy, remarkably similar to recent messages.
To those interested in how history repeats itself, I suggest perusing
http://www.mit.edu/activities/safe/writings/harassment/mit/
Perhaps it's time to revisit the policy.
Also of note, the US Dept. of Education Office of Civil Rights
recently wrote to universities to clarify their position on
regulations preventing hostile environments for students. The gist is
that none of their regulations should be used contrary to the first
amendment.
http://www.thefire.org/pdfs/ocr_fire_072803.pdf
A couple of quotes:
"Thus, for example, in addressing harassment allegations, OCR has
recognized that the offensiveness of a particular expression, standing
alone, is not a legally sufficient basis to establish a hostile
environment under the statutes enforced by OCR."
"OCR has consistently maintained that schools in regulating the
conduct of students and faculty to prevent or redress discrimination
must formulate, interpret, and apply their rules in a manner that
respects the legal rights of students and faculty, including those
court precedents interpreting the concept of free speech."
Ray Jones
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