CU Boulder’s commitment to free speech still needs improvement

It’s back to school and the University of Colorado Boulder has already earned two grades —anAandaC—onitscommitment to free speech.

Last week, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) awarded CU Boulder the highest rating for its policies on free expression. Of the 470 institutions rated by FIRE, a nonpartisan institution committed to the civil rights of students and faculty, only 55 universities and colleges, including CU Boulder and Western Colorado University earned a “green light.” The green ranking does not mean that speech won’t be quashed in actuality only that the policies covering expression, harassment, discrimination, and reporting do not directly threaten students’ fundamental rights.

Last year, CU Boulder earned a “yellow light” ranking. The university worked with the foundation to modify the policies. Today, FIRE’s Vice President of Policy Reform Azhar Majeed calls CU Boulder “a national leader on this issue.”

Most Colorado institutions of higher learning earned a “yellow light” for ambiguous policies that could be used to constrain free speech. Adams State University and Fort Lewis College earned a “red light” for policies that outright restrict speech rights. Other CU campuses were not rated.

As for the second grade—a C — that’s for the campus’s response to Professor John Eastman’s recent opinion piece in Newsweek. Eastman, professor of law at Chapman University, is a 2020-2021 visiting conservative scholar at CU Boulder’s Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization. His August op-ed questioned Sen. Kamala Harris’ eligibility for vice president under the Constitution. According to Article II of the Constitution, “no person except a natural born citizen…shall be eligible to the office of President.” According to the 14th Amendment, a naturalborn citizen must be born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Harris’ parents were not naturalized citizensat the time of her birth, and owed their allegiance to the countries where they were citizens. He concludes, therefore, neither they nor their daughter were fully subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; Harris is a citizen but not a natural-born citizen as defined by the 14th Amendment.

Widener University Professor Mary Brigid McManamon raised similar 14th Amendment objections to Sen. Ted Cruz’s eligibility for the presidency four years ago in The Washington Post, as did Arizona State University Professor Robert N. Clinton in US News and World Report. Curiously their op-eds, which pointed out Cruz was born in Canada, prompted mere disagreement among constitutional scholars, but no outcry from the offended over the treatment of a Hispanic candidate.

Eastman’s piece, however, triggered the offended some of whom wanted Eastman’s CU appointment rescinded. To his credit Chancellor Philip DiStefano informed faculty via an email that he would not send Eastman packing for expressing an opinion. While the decision was certainly worthy of an A grade, the letter itself kowtowed a little too much to those who oppose free expression.

DiStefano assured the offended that he did not agree with the Eastman analysis which has “marginalized members of our CU Boulder community and sown doubts in our commitment to anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Only the offended would assert that a legal analysis regarding the definition of natural-born citizen would marginalize anyone. Coddling the offended only reinforces the idea that opposing opinions are dangerous, that they wound the people who disagree with them, that they must be denounced as heresy and the transgressor excommunicated from the university.

The chancellor deserves credit for not doing the latter, but in indulging in the former he shows his commitment to free expression is at best lukewarm.

The university should be a place where students and faculty can engage with contending opinions without suppression by a vocal contingent of affronted persons. Having policies that protect free expression is important. Having leaders that champion free inquiry and expression is even more so.