ERIC Number: ED355860
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1992-Oct
Pages: 4
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Reconciling Rights and Responsibilities of Colleges and Students: Offensive Speech, Assembly, Drug Testing and Safety. ERIC Digest.
Gibbs, Annette
This brief paper summarizes a full length report of the same title which examines the ongoing debate on the conflicting rights and responsibilities of students and college administrations in the areas of offensive speech, rights of assembly, drug testing and campus safety. On offensive speech and the rights of colleges and universities to regulate it, the courts have ruled against higher education institutions' prohibiting offensive or hate speech because institutional policies have failed to distinguish sanctionable speech from protected speech. Considerations concerning students' rights of association and assembly on campus include the following: that institutions should not deny groups recognition because the college or university does not agree with their views; that student groups should be treated the same as other groups provided they fulfill the same procedural and substantive requirements established by the institution; that colleges are within their rights to emphasize that acknowledgement of student groups does not indicate institutional approval of the group's views; and that student demonstrations on public college campuses cannot be prohibited on the basis of content or message. On the status of mandatory drug testing for athletes, the courts in several jurisdictions have been unwilling to accept colleges' and universities' stated purposes for drug testing. With regard to institutional responsibility for student safety, the element of foreseeability has become a criterion in many states for determining college and university liability. (Contains five references.) (JB)
Descriptors: Athletes, Campuses, Civil Rights, College Athletics, College Students, Colleges, Drug Use Testing, Freedom of Speech, Higher Education, School Responsibility, School Security, Student Responsibility, Student Rights
ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, 1 Dupont Circle, Suite 630, Washington, DC 20036-1183 ($1).
Publication Type: ERIC Publications; ERIC Digests in Full Text
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, Washington, DC.; George Washington Univ., Washington, DC. School of Education and Human Development.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A