By: Dina Usnaovic
An email recently went out to student organizations, including The Cauldron, regarding faculty comments on on-campus activities. The email detailed a new policy stating that the university’s marketing department must approve of any official comments given by faculty members to the media. Is this considered an infringement on First Amendment rights?
Forcing faculty to run their quotes by CSUs marketing department requires them to formulate their positions around the university’s official positions, as they are representatives of the university. Because of this, it is even harder to get accurate positions and opinions from campus faculty.
Along with that, faculty members can not assert their true opinions if they differ from the university’s position. The student body has a right to hear truthful opinions from representatives of the university, and the faculty has a right to assert their true beliefs and opinions.
The idea that students will be unable to get accurate positions from faculty members is frightening. How will the student body be able to uncover corruption and unethical decisions on the university’s part when the faculty is unable to officially report any action without prior approval?
It is important to consider the idea that this could be an infringement on the freedom of speech for faculty members, and an attempt to hide corruption or unethical decisions for the university.
You must log in to post a comment.