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May 19th, 2010
At Temple University, ‘That Word Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means’
Temple University, I must say, has the most arbitrary processes I've ever seen. Its administrators either have no idea what they are doing or else they actually have no concern whatsoever for justice or even for the English language.
I'm not just talking about Temple's exceedingly poor treatment of student Christian DeJohn, which led to an embarrassing loss at the Third Circuit when the court agreed with a lower court in throwing out Temple's unconstitutional speech code. Actually, it was Temple's former speech code, since Temple had changed it but kept defending the old one, so the courts simply didn't trust Temple enough not to change it back after the legal proceedings were completed.
And I'm not just talking about Temple's arbitrary treatment of Temple University Purpose (TUP), a student group that had brought Dutch politician Geert Wilders to campus, by charging the group for extra security after the event. After FIRE intervened, Temple claimed that it could have charged the group thousands of dollars more. Temple arbitrarily offered to withdraw the extra fee, then unilaterally withdrew it. In its latest letter, Temple merely stated that the matter was closed, chilling speech at Temple. Who would bring ...