Tufts Rescinds Speech Rules

Following student protests against restrictions on free speech, the president of Tufts University abolished a policy designed to protect students from sexist and racist comments, Tufts announced last week.

The policy, in place from the start of this academic year, barred written and verbal attacks by students based on race, creed, gender or sexual orientation. The policy also divided the campus into zones, with particular types of speech not permitted in the public zones.

"I think it is very difficult to define [the policy] in terms that would hold up legally," said Tufts President Jean Mayer in a statement explaining why he abolished the policy "We are better off to examine things case by case," Mayer added.

The policy change at Tufts comes at a time when Harvard and universities across the nation are trying to determine if all speech should be protected or if some speech is so offensive that it should be stopped.

The Tufts Student Life Committee, a group consisting of both faculty and students, created the policy after a controversy arose over a T-shirt printed by a student. The shirt listed 10 reasons "Why Beer is Better than Women at Tufts."

According to Michael K. Flagherty, a leader of the student group that opposed the policy, no students were present when the committee passed the speech-limiting policy.

As soon as the policy was implemented in September, student groups began to protest the restricted speech zones. One group, called the Free Speech Movement, used masking tape and signs to divide the Tufts Quad into a free speech zone, a semi-free speech zone and a "Twilight Zone" where no free speech was allowed.

Students on the conservative campus newspaper Primary Source founded the group, but members of more liberal groups including the Tufts Democrats soon joined as the protests grew, students said.

Although University officials said there is "little chance" that a similar policy will be instituted by the administration, members of the Tufts Student Senate said they would continue to seek a balance between free speech rights and rights to personal dignity.

"This is definitely not an issue that is dead," said Senate President Billy Jacobson. "We can work together to come up with a more efficiently and coherently worded policy."

Jacobson said he preferred the rescinded policy and blamed the change on the actions of a few students.

"It was a vocal minority who didn't approve of the policy," he said. "The silent majority of the campus, most of the student body, was in favor of at least the intentions of the policy."

Flagherty said he disagreed with Jacobson's assessment of student opinion. "I really think he's going to a different school than the other 7000 of us," he said.