This past weekend, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate voted nearly unanimously against a resolution put forth by Students Advocating for Students (SAS), which called for clarifications of student conduct policies in line with First Amendment protections. The final vote tally was zero votes for, 26 votes against and two abstentions. This is deplorable.
In September, SAS put forward a resolution calling for Tufts University to alter its student conduct policies in a way that would provide Tufts students with First Amendment protections on campus. While Tufts is a private university, it has, on countless occasions, promised its students free speech rights. It is important to note that the TCU Senate itself unanimously passed a resolution in 2012, which called for free speech to be protected on Tufts' campus "now and forever." It appears that a lot can change in four years.
It is also important to remember that, upon seeking supporters for this resolution within the Tufts community back in September, I — in addition to others who favored the resolution — was subjected to a hostile, abusive and harassing environment both on campus and online.This hostility and abuse came from Tufts students, including TCU Senators.
Additionally, during this time period, SAS met with Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon and contacted Jill Zellmer, executive director of the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) and Title IX Coordinator, via email. Our meeting with McMahon went well, yet it yielded few tangible results. We contacted Zellmer on Aug. 29 with a multitude of questions, and despite her both claiming to be easily accessible and promising SAS that she would give us answers to those questions by early October, we still have not heard back from her.
During the TCU Senate meeting on Nov. 20, members of the TCU Senate made their disdain for the First Amendment abundantly clear. Below are the TCU Senate’s two primary arguments against the resolution.
- Free speech endangers students
- Free speech protections make administrators' jobs impossible
The TCU Senate's logic is as flawed as it is disturbing. Without clearly-defined policies, students run the risk of engaging in illicit conduct without their knowing in advance that such conduct is prohibited. Additionally, a university with vague policies is a university with no standards for punishment. Everything, in such a scenario, will be decided on a case-by-case basis in which decisions can be made arbitrarily and based upon administrators' personal biases. Alternatively, having properly-defined codes of conduct gives students the ability to properly understand what they can and cannot say and establishes a standard to which administrators can be held accountable when their actions seem capricious.
In the end, by nearly unanimously voting to disallow the implementation of free speech protection into Tufts’ politics, the TCU Senate has struck down the protective restrictions Tufts has on free speech.
Nevertheless, SAS's work is far from over. We will continue to take our case to the student body, and we encourage anybody who supports our initiative to join us in our efforts. SAS plans on continuing to meet with school administrators to address this important issue.
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