News
Engineering Admins Halt Pro-Life Protest
October 23, 2008 - 11:00pm
In what some students claim was a 90-minute violation of their right to free speech, the Cornell Coalition for Life clashed with the College of Engineering administration on Wednesday morning when Dawn Warren, administrative assistant, removed the organization’s “Elena Campaign” signs from the Engineering Quad.
The CCFL is a non-partisan, pro-life advocacy group on campus. According to the CCFL, the Elena Campaign is composed of “a series of light-hearted educational signs with pictures and text detailing the biological development of an unborn child.”
Tristen Cramer ’09, former CCFL president, explained that the signs did not contain political statements, but rather “biological facts on fetal development,” including ultrasound images and text.
According to Cramer, the group put up the signs shortly before 8 a.m. on Wednesday. About an hour later, members of the group saw Warren removing the signs because she believed they were not approved by the University, despite the authorization notice that was posted on the first sign of the series. After members of the CCFL showed Warren the proper forms, she reportedly called the content of the signs “inappropriate” and removed them from the quad.
Signs of protest: Pro-life signs line a pathway on the Engineering Quad Wednesday, before they were removed by the Engineering School’s administration.
Later, members of the CCFL met with Cathy Dove, associate dean of administration for the College of Engineering, who confirmed the University approval for posting the signs. However, according to Cramer, Dove cited an “unwritten policy” in which only engineering-related signs are permitted to be posted on the Engineering Quad.
While the same signs were posted on both the Engineering and the Arts Quads, the signs on the Arts Quad were not met with any resistance.
“You can express yourself on the Arts Quad and not the Engineering Quad?” Cramer asked.
Ultimately, the signs were returned to the CCFL because the organization had, in fact, obtained proper approval. The signs remained on the Engineering Quad through Thursday.
“As an engineering student, I am surprised and disappointed that some of our staff would censor the issues that we are exposed to. In their claims that all engineering displays must be engineering related, they are severely short-changing all engineering students,” CCFL President Katherine Weible ’10 stated in a press release.
Cramer found the engineering administration’s actions “shocking.”
“As an organization, we work hard to follow the rules,” she explained, “but it seems like we were found guilty before proven innocent.”
In response to the sign situation, Tommy Bruce, vice president for University communications, said that there was “an innocent mistake made.”
The “unusual nature” of the sign content, he explained, “led [a staff member] to think that something was wrong [with the authorization].”
He continued to explain, “Things were rectified appropriately quite quickly.”
Kent Fuchs, dean of the engineering school and the recently named University Provost, sent a letter to all engineering faculty, staff and students explaining the situation.
“An ensuing discussion involving members of the CCFL, the Cornell Police, and the college administration, revealed that the organization had gone through proper channels to obtain university permission for the posting. The college administration apologized to the CCFL for the inconvenience, and their signs were immediately returned and re-posted,” Fuchs stated in an e-mail.
However, Cramer was “disturbed” by the fact that the whole process of regaining the CCFL signs took one and a half hours. “It takes a lot of time and planning for even a small display,” she said.
“Furthermore,” Cramer stated, “it speaks volumes that this member of the Cornell staff chose to censor speech she disagreed with, rather than facilitating an open discussion about the issue.”
“The Cornell community should be aware that our right to free speech regarding relevant current issues is hindered by this so-called ‘unwritten policy,’“ Cramer said.
Yesterday, Bruce posted a response to the incident on CUinfo.
He stated, “We are aware that some have attempted to cast this incident in the context of the stifling of freedom of speech. Nothing could be further from the truth. This University has and will continue to respect and uphold the free-speech rights of all members of the Cornell community.”
Bruce explained that there is “lots of tradition” of the Arts Quad being a place for student organizations to express themselves and communicate with the rest of the Cornell community.
“It is a fitting, evolving reality” that the trend is transferring to other quads, because “at this institution, everyone gets to speak [his or her] mind,” he said.
Cramer said, “I hope we can work it out so everyone wins — the University can express support for free speech, and the student organizations don’t have to fear [censorship by the University].”
Dove and Warren could not be reached for comment at press time.
In what some students claim was a 90-minute violation of their right to free speech, the Cornell Coalition for Life clashed with the College of Engineering administration on Wednesday morning when Dawn Warren, administrative assistant, removed the organization’s “Elena Campaign” signs from the Engineering Quad.
The CCFL is a non-partisan, pro-life advocacy group on campus. According to the CCFL, the Elena Campaign is composed of “a series of light-hearted educational signs with pictures and text detailing the biological development of an unborn child.”
Tristen Cramer ’09, former CCFL president, explained that the signs did not contain political statements, but rather “biological facts on fetal development,” including ultrasound images and text.
According to Cramer, the group put up the signs shortly before 8 a.m. on Wednesday. About an hour later, members of the group saw Warren removing the signs because she believed they were not approved by the University, despite the authorization notice that was posted on the first sign of the series. After members of the CCFL showed Warren the proper forms, she reportedly called the content of the signs “inappropriate” and removed them from the quad.Signs of protest: Pro-life signs line a pathway on the Engineering Quad Wednesday, before they were removed by the Engineering School’s administration.
Later, members of the CCFL met with Cathy Dove, associate dean of administration for the College of Engineering, who confirmed the University approval for posting the signs. However, according to Cramer, Dove cited an “unwritten policy” in which only engineering-related signs are permitted to be posted on the Engineering Quad.
While the same signs were posted on both the Engineering and the Arts Quads, the signs on the Arts Quad were not met with any resistance.
“You can express yourself on the Arts Quad and not the Engineering Quad?” Cramer asked.
Ultimately, the signs were returned to the CCFL because the organization had, in fact, obtained proper approval. The signs remained on the Engineering Quad through Thursday.
“As an engineering student, I am surprised and disappointed that some of our staff would censor the issues that we are exposed to. In their claims that all engineering displays must be engineering related, they are severely short-changing all engineering students,” CCFL President Katherine Weible ’10 stated in a press release.
Cramer found the engineering administration’s actions “shocking.”
“As an organization, we work hard to follow the rules,” she explained, “but it seems like we were found guilty before proven innocent.”
In response to the sign situation, Tommy Bruce, vice president for University communications, said that there was “an innocent mistake made.”
The “unusual nature” of the sign content, he explained, “led [a staff member] to think that something was wrong [with the authorization].”
He continued to explain, “Things were rectified appropriately quite quickly.”
Kent Fuchs, dean of the engineering school and the recently named University Provost, sent a letter to all engineering faculty, staff and students explaining the situation.
“An ensuing discussion involving members of the CCFL, the Cornell Police, and the college administration, revealed that the organization had gone through proper channels to obtain university permission for the posting. The college administration apologized to the CCFL for the inconvenience, and their signs were immediately returned and re-posted,” Fuchs stated in an e-mail.
However, Cramer was “disturbed” by the fact that the whole process of regaining the CCFL signs took one and a half hours. “It takes a lot of time and planning for even a small display,” she said.
“Furthermore,” Cramer stated, “it speaks volumes that this member of the Cornell staff chose to censor speech she disagreed with, rather than facilitating an open discussion about the issue.”
“The Cornell community should be aware that our right to free speech regarding relevant current issues is hindered by this so-called ‘unwritten policy,’“ Cramer said.
Yesterday, Bruce posted a response to the incident on CUinfo.
He stated, “We are aware that some have attempted to cast this incident in the context of the stifling of freedom of speech. Nothing could be further from the truth. This University has and will continue to respect and uphold the free-speech rights of all members of the Cornell community.”
Bruce explained that there is “lots of tradition” of the Arts Quad being a place for student organizations to express themselves and communicate with the rest of the Cornell community.
“It is a fitting, evolving reality” that the trend is transferring to other quads, because “at this institution, everyone gets to speak [his or her] mind,” he said.
Cramer said, “I hope we can work it out so everyone wins — the University can express support for free speech, and the student organizations don’t have to fear [censorship by the University].”
Dove and Warren could not be reached for comment at press time.
Only in Tommy Bruce's
Only in Tommy Bruce's imagination would that woman have also removed the signs had they been pro-choice signs.
Overreacting
Some people just tend to think their freedom of speech gets violated all the time.
They assume others would not like what they say in the first place, and they are so afraid of and so sensitive about it being violated that anything remotely related to preventing them from expressing their opinion is a violation (even for 90 mins!)...
Not liking someone's ideas
Not liking someone's ideas is NOT a justification for suppressing them, even for 90 minutes. Discourse on controversial ideas is exactly what freedom of speech is supposed to protect.
Cornell Engineering Dean Digs Deeper Hole
I would encourage anyone interested in this topic to read FIRE's latest blog, "Cornell Engineering Dean Digs Deeper Hole over Confiscation of Pro-Life Display" which provides some more information on this situation as well as other incidents of rights violations at Cornell University this year.
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/9838.html
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) unites leaders in the fields of civil rights and civil liberties, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of liberty, legal equality, freedom of religion, due process, freedom of speech, and academic freedom on America's college campuses. Our web page, www.thefire.org, will give you a greater sense of our identity and activities.
--
Brandon Stewart
Program Associate, Campus Freedom Network
A word (or two), if I may.
"This University," Vice President Tommy Bruce says of Cornell, "has and will continue to respect and uphold the free-speech rights of all members of the Cornell community."
Not to be rude, Mr. Bruce, but wouldn't "respect[ing] and uphold[ing] the free-speech rights" of the students in this case have included checking with them to see if they had the proper authorization to put their signs in the Engineering Quad *before* impatiently removing them?
And why the Clintonian aversion to simply admitting that a mistake was made, apologizing for it, and making sure that it doesn't happen again?
Why the completely unnecessary evasion?
It shouldn't matter how "unusual" the signs were -- Ms. Warren was wrong to take them down as she did, and I cannot tell you how refreshing it would be to hear but two very short, very powerful words from you: "We're sorry."
I can only hope that signs
I can only hope that signs of a more “liberal cause” would have been taken down as well. However, since harmless posters of a “pro-life” cause are considered “inappropriate”, it’s hard to believe such liberal posters would fall under such scrutiny. I hope the Engineering Department will do a better job noticing proper authorization in the future and be impartial to all causes.
Actually "liberal" groups
Actually "liberal" groups also have trouble getting things posted on the engineering quad. Citing the same policy of refusing to post signs for non-engineering related groups ads for the Gay-Straight Alliance were not displayed on the electronic media boards in Duffield Hall. So CCFL are really just throwing a hissy fit over an admittedly stupid policy that is equally applied through out the Engineering school.
Dear Elena
I certainly wasn't there, but it sounds to me like this was an honest mistake. I say "kudos" to both sides for resolving it, but why not compensate the group for the inconvenience by extending the authorized display period.
And rather than focusing on the procedures and the free speech issues, I hope there is some discussion about the subject the CCFL is trying to promote: individual human life begins at conception, and deserves to be protected in law and welcomed in life.