Restricting Free-Speech in College

The practice of restricting speech isn't new and is often very troubling.  We have numerous laws protecting our speech and actions, but year after year there are schools, businesses, and corporations who restrict their underlings.  Colleges across the US are infamous for restricting their teachers and students.  Some colleges have implemented completely student run governments and student unions to seemingly promote the voices of its students.  However, this seems to merely be a ploy in some cases.  Because the issue of free-speech in colleges is so common, there is an organization who has dedicated themselves to preventing this.  This organization, FIRE, is an acronym for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.  Their mission is to:

FIRE Logo via Fire.com

"defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of liberty."

Recent continued actions on RPI's campus made FIRE take notice.  Look who made the top of the list for "Worst Colleges for Free Speech" - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  RPI Administration has recently shut down peaceful student protests, restricted student government, and banned Greek Rush for the Fall semester.  All of these instances involved RPI students' speech being neglected and often upright suppressed.  The Administration seems to be picking up speed and gumption in recent instances - Even when donors, alumni, and professors are advocating for the students.  

RPI isn't the first or the last university that is impeding on students' individual rights.  We are all entitled to civil liberties, yet Public Universities seem to infringe upon them more often than Public Universities.  7 out of the 10 Universities on Fire's "Worst Colleges for Free Speech" list are Private.  This may not hold much meaning to some people, but private universities are actually NOT directly bound by the First Amendment.  Since these schools have promised students free speech and other civil liberties, these universities are contractually obligated to fulfill them.  So when Private universities start retracting and modifying their original promises, organizations like FIRE and the ACLU are there to intervene.   The ACLU has a great article on Speech on Campus and FIRE has a great distinction on Private Universities.