How to restore our reputation for free expression
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrases “sga” and “student government”.
Summary
- This Johns Hopkins News-Letter article reports on recent free-expression controversies at Hopkins and argues for policy changes.
- The News-Letter reported that cryptography professor Matthew Green was asked to remove an NSA-related blog post, but Dean Andrew Douglas later rescinded the order and apologized, citing “inadequate information” and concerns about legal consequences.
- The paper reported that medical students petitioned to remove Dr. Carson as commencement speaker over his comments about gay marriage, while the SGA twice rejected the re-formation of the pro-life group Voice for Life.
- The article says that the SGA cited the University’s Anti-Harassment Policy and objected to links to images of aborted babies when rejecting Voice for Life.
- The reporter argues that Hopkins should abolish its Civility Code, adopt stronger free-expression policies and host educational initiatives about speech rights, possibly using a version of the University of Pennsylvania’s guidelines.
- According to the article, FIRE ranked Hopkins the ninth-worst college in the United States for free speech, after what the writer describes as a long record of alleged violations.