The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is opposing the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act recently reintroduced in Congress that prohibits harassment of students based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion.
Writing for FIRE, William Creeley says that there are already adequate laws on the books and that the proposed law threatens freedom of speech on campus, “The legislation’s definition of harassment is vague and subjective, and conflicts with Supreme Court precedent. If the new bill defines harassment anything like it did when introduced last fall, that’s a big problem for free speech on campus because it replaces an exacting, clear, speech-protective definition of harassment with a vague and subjective one.
From a commentary from FIRE, March 11, 2011, by William Creeley.