GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: REP. POLIS O.K. WITH EXPELLING INNOCENT STUDENTS [VIDEO]. As Glenn mentioned earlier today, Congress held a hearing yesterday on “Preventing and Responding to Sexual Assault on College Campuses.” FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Director, Joe Cohn, testified about the importance of preserving the due process rights of accused students during investigations of campus sexual assault.

During an exchange with Joe, Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) suggested that the “preponderance of the evidence” standard—which requires only that fact-finders be 50.01 percent certain in order to find an accused student guilty—may be too high of a bar for campus sexual assault cases. Though Glenn already posted this quote, it bears repeating: “If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people.” [Emphasis added.]

So I guess Sir Blackstone had it wrong with his formulation that “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” It seems the new logic is “better kick ten out rather than that one (or maybe two) run free.”

What’s funny about all this is FIRE’s radical position is that we’d like to see rapists go to jail, not prey on girls at the community college down the road or at the local bar. But, yes, you should be pretty sure they are actually guilty.

You can watch this exchange in the video below, and check out FIRE’s coverage over at The Torch.

INSOMNIA THEATER (LABOR DAY EDITION)! Filmmaker Ted Balaker is coming out with an awesome and important new film called Can We Take a Joke? this fall. The documentary will feature brand new interviews with top comedians, including Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Jim Norton, Lisa Lampanelli, Adam Carolla, Heather McDonald, and Karith Foster. It will also include interviews with authors Jon Ronson and Jonathan Rauch, as well as free speech specialists like Ron Collins, Bob Corn-Revere, and me.

My organization, FIRE, has been working with Ted on this project from the very beginning. In order to support free speech, satire, parody, and comedy on campus, we just launched a new fundraising campaign. Under this new campaign we will support the right to be funny on campus (and the right not to be punished when you fall flat), produce a lengthy video of our interview with comedian Penn Jillette about the essentiality of free speech and comedy, and, at risk of protests and disinvitations, plan screenings of Can We Take a Joke? on campuses next spring.

Look out for more news about the documentary in the next few months. In the meantime, sign up for the film’s email list at its website, follow the Twitter account, “like” the Facebook page, and check out the interview Ted did with Reason’s Nick Gillespie to learn more about the film:

INSOMNIA THEATER: PENN STATE PROFESSOR SUPPRESSES STUDENT ARTWORK ON TERRORISM, CALLING IT “RACIST” – Tonight I’d like to share a FIRE video from several years ago that tells the story of artist and former Penn State grad student Joshua Stulman whose Portraits of Terror art exhibit, which satirized radical Islamic terrorism, was censored by his professor and school administrators. While this decision was reversed by the school’s president, Stulman’s work was never displayed at Penn State. Later on, Stulman made plans to showcase his work at Gratz College in Philadelphia, however the event was canceled for fear of a terrorist attack against the institution.

This strain of censorship is not new. At the time of the release of this video I wrote an extensive blog about the many cases we’d already seen of students getting in trouble for being critical of radical Islam, or even of Hezbollah and Hamas. All these years later, the risks are greater than ever. You can even expect people who rely on free speech, like cartoonist Gary Trudeau, to take the murder of other cartoonists as an opportunity to chastise those of us who believe free speech means nothing without the right to offend.

DOES FREE SPEECH OFFEND YOU? This is the topic I explore in my new video for Prager University, in which I discuss the threats freedom of speech faces worldwide, including European governmental censorship, campus speech codes, as well as newer challenges posed by trigger warnings and the policing of microaggressions. I also cover these topics in more detail in my short book Freedom From Speech and “The Coddling of the American Mind,” the article I co-wrote with Jonathan Haidt for The Atlantic.

INSOMNIA THEATRE (PSYCHOLOGY EDITION): LUKIANOFF AND HAIDT ON ‘THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND’ – As some of you might have seen, best-selling author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and I co-wrote the cover story of the September issue of The Atlantic. The article, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” examines the latest manifestation of PC culture on college campuses and how it may be harming students’ mental health. The Atlantic has received a lot of reader feedback on the piece and is sharing some of its favorite reader comments (next week they will posting our responses to some of the criticisms). You can check out some of the highlights from those comments here. And, if you haven’t seen it already, here is a video of Haidt and me discussing the article as well as some personal reflections on what led us to write the piece.

INSOMNIA THEATRE RETURNS! “IS THE FEAR OF BEING OFFENSIVE KILLING FREE SPEECH?” — I had the pleasure of sitting down with spiked! editor-at-large and self-proclaimed propagandist Mick Hume while I was in the U.K. in July. We talked about all-things free speech, from the growing tendency in the U.K. to ban offensive speech to European blasphemy laws to his new book, Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech?. If Mick’s name looks familiar, it may be because of his great piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, “Even Speech We Hate Should Be Free.” Check out the video, the op-ed, and his new book!

SETTING ‘THE NEW YORKER’ STRAIGHT ON FREE SPEECH: You may remember me posting earlier this month about a recent article in The New Yorker by Kelefa Sanneh called “The Hell You Say” and its dismissive, yet poorly-researched handling of free speech (and us “speech nuts”). Well, I, along with some other staff members at FIRE, have carefully compiled “A Dozen Things ‘The New Yorker’ Gets Wrong about Free Speech (And Why It Matters)” to set the record straight. Why is critiquing this one magazine article important, you might ask? As I say in my response in today’s Huffington Post:

First of all, in a time when people seem increasingly comfortable with book banning, blasphemy laws, hate speech laws, and amending the Constitution to limit the First Amendment, it’s important to take every opportunity we can to correct common misconceptions and explain some of the basics of the deep and profound philosophy behind free speech and the wisdom inherent in First Amendment law. Second, it’s important to take on the growing tide of critics, including authors and even journalists, who rely on freedom of speech but want to dismiss it as something unsophisticated or even dangerous. Whether from Eric Posner, Gary Trudeau, or Noah Feldman, there is a push to dismiss freedom of speech that seems to lionize the fact that other countries limit it. Every single one of these critics should sit down and read Flemming Rose’s book on international censorship, The Tyranny of Silence, before assuming that “enlightened censorship” is either justified or working out well for anyone.

FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS FOR PHILLY! Temple University and Drexel University, why can’t you be more like the University of Pennsylvania and drop your speech codes? FIRE’s Azhar Majeed and Drexel alum Max Levy call out both universities over at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

THE DEMISE OF COMEDY ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: Caitlin Flanagan has a great new article in The Atlantic about how today’s college students want their comedy “100 percent risk-free” so that it does “not trigger or upset or mildly trouble a single student.” FIRE actually has a comedy coming out soon about this very topic called Can We Take a Joke?— check it out and like it on Facebook.

I​,​ too​,​ have a forthcoming feature article in The Atlantic that I co-authored with best selling author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. ​W​e take a unique perspective on free speech on campus, examining ​it through the lens of psychology. Keep an eye out for the article in the September issue of The Atlantic​. I’ll be sure to let readers know when it is posted to the website next week. ​

3 THINGS I LEARNED FROM THE NEW YORKER ABOUT FREE SPEECH: In an article published in the latest issue of The New Yorker, “The Hell You Say,” I learned:

1) “For many modern free-speech advocates, the First Amendment is irrelevant.” That’s news to me! The First Amendment sure seemed to help in this case settled less than two weeks ago for nearly a million dollars that the author didn’t seem to know about.

2) “Speech nuts, like gun nuts, have amassed plenty of arguments”—which I guess means we “speech nuts” are wrong? Because, what, we have a lot of arguments for free speech? How does that work, again? Interesting thinking from a journalist who relies on free speech for his living.

3) Since the ’90s, “restrictive campus speech codes have been widely repealed.” Wow, that’s an interesting and totally false claim. I guess the author missed the ten lawsuits brought by my organization in just the last year and half? Or that 55% of universities maintain wildly unconstitutional codes? Did he miss that Cal Poly Pomona settled with an animal rights activist less than two weeks ago after not only trying to restrict him to a tiny free speech zone, but also making him wear a speech badge even within that free speech quarantine?

Do the writers at The New Yorker not have access to Google?

HOLDING COLLEGE CENSORS ACCOUNTABLE: George Leef from the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy has an excellent piece in Forbes about FIRE’s recent victory in the Hayden Barnes case and the importance of holding college administrators accountable for violating student and faculty rights. Check out Leef’s article here.

A FREE SPEECH VICTORY EIGHT YEARS IN THE MAKING: $900,000 settlement points the way to making campus censors pay for unconstitutional abuses.

If individual administrators had to worry for even a second that they might be held personally liable for violating students’ clearly established constitutional rights, you can guarantee one thing: Incidents of abuses of student free speech and due process rights would plummet. As I explained last year in my announcement of FIRE’s Stand Up for Speech Litigation Project, many administrators choose to overreact to speech because they feel that there is no downside for doing so, whereas there is a host of potential consequences for failing to act, including harassment lawsuits, tort lawsuits, and investigations by the Department of Education. However, administrators’ fear of personal liability would likely often outweigh their fear of these other consequences, making them think twice before violating student and faculty rights. But insurance and university policies undermine this potentially elegant solution.

No, free speech does not end when it touches something that offends you, and you have no equivalent right to silence those who are insensitive to your feelings.

No, you have no right to feel safe.

You have no constitutional right. You have no moral right. You have no right at all.  You have a right not to be physically harmed, but your feelings, just like everyone else’s, are fair game for bruising.  No one says you have to suffer in silence. Don’t like how your Columbia professor uses classic literature that “triggers” your unsafe feelz? Go to Dartmouth. Don’t like how other people on the internets call you stupid? Don’t be stupid. Or turn off the computer. Or only click on links to cute kitteh pics.

YOUR FINAL DOSE OF INSOMNIA THEATER: FREE SPEECH AND JAZZ – Check out this video of legendary critic and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff on the unique power of the First Amendment and his lifelong love of jazz.

TOMORROW IS THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF FIRE’S STAND UP FOR SPEECH LITIGATION PROJECT: SUFS is an unprecedented national effort to eliminate unconstitutional speech codes from our nation’s public colleges and universities. Check out SUFS’s successful and pending cases here.

CALLING ALL COLLEGE STUDENTS INTERESTED IN PROTECTING FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS: There is just one week left to register for the 2015 FIRE Student Network Conference, taking place July 24–26 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event is completely free to attend, and travel stipends are available. Submit your application today!

AND FOR YOUR FINAL DOSE OF INSOMNIA THEATER: HARVEY ON HARVARD’S FREE SPEECH BAIT AND SWITCH – Check out this video of FIRE co-founder Harvey Silverglate’s take on the importance of free speech on campus and Harvard’s deception when it comes to academic freedom.

HOW TITLE IX IS CHILLING CAMPUS SPEECH: Check out FIRE intern and University of Delaware college student Rachael Russell’s article on how her education has been negatively impacted by her school’s concerns about Title IX compliance.

AND FOR TONIGHT’S INSOMNIA THEATER: “KNOWLEDGE STARTS AS OFFENDEDNESS” – Check out this video featuring Brookings Institution senior fellow Jonathan Rauch on “hate speech” and his book Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought.

MUST READ: FIRE Intern James Altschul responds to San Diego State student Anthony Berteaux’s condemnation of Jerry Seinfeld’s recent statement that today’s college students are too politically correct. Altschul and Seinfeld are right: many of today’s students can’t seem to take a joke. In fact, FIRE, the DKT Liberty Project, and director Ted Balaker and Korchula Productions have a forthcoming feature documentary about just this, titled Can We Take a Joke? Be sure to check out the Can We Take a Joke? website, like it on Facebook, and follow it on Twitter.

BORED IN LONDON NEXT WEEK? Catch me across the pond at the Index on Censorship’s debate on academic freedom and summer magazine launch party on Wednesday, and fellow Instapundit guest blogger Virginia Postrel at her talk at the London School of Economics on Thursday.

WHY CAN’T YOU BE MORE LIKE GLENN? Sign on to the Index on Censorship’s open letter on why academic freedom is under threat and needs urgent protection worldwide. Next week I will be traveling to the UK to talk about these global threats to free speech, but it’s important to remember that academic freedom is in trouble here at home in the USA too. Read more here.

COLLEGE DECLARES HAYMARKET RIOT REFERENCE A VIOLENT THREAT TO COLLEGE PRESIDENT: Oakton Community College in Illinois is insisting that a one-sentence “May Day” email referencing the Haymarket Riot sent by a faculty member to several colleagues constituted a “true threat” to the college president. Why?  Because the famous workers’ rally in Chicago “resulted in 11 deaths and more than 70 people injured.” As FIRE’s Ari Cohn noted, “The United States Department of the Interior has designated the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument a National Historic Landmark. If remembering the Haymarket Riot is a ‘true threat,’ the monument itself would be illegal.”

YOUR NIGHTLY DOSE OF “INSOMNIA THEATER”: ‘MY COLLEGE HAD A PROBLEM WITH A FUNNY SHIRT’– Check out this video about Ohio University student Isaac Smith’s successful lawsuit against OU after the university banned his organization’s t-shirts. Isaac’s lawsuit was another successful installment of FIRE’s ongoing Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project.