Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) is an international organization dedicated to protecting the rights of reporters and promoting freedom of speech. In 2005, Reporters Without Borders won the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought awarded annually by the European Parliament. The organization was founded based on the premise outlined in Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which asserts that people everywhere have "the right to freedom of opinion and expression.” When Reporters Without Borders sees an injustice, it investigates and, if warranted, sends letters of protest.

I’m honored to report to you that Reporters Without Borders has reviewed The True BU situation and has opted to put its considerable reputation behind me. A copy of the letter can be found in the documents section (on the right), but here’s the text of the letter of protest that they sent to Butler.

Dear President Fong,

Reporters Without Borders, an international organization defending freedom of the press and free speech worldwide, is concerned about the treatment of Butler University junior Jess Zimmerman. In January 2009, the Butler administration sued him after he published criticism and opinion pieces against your administration in an anonymous blog. It was the first time in the United States that a student was sued by his university for online content and our organization is quite worried regarding the consequences this decision may have on online free speech.

Reporters Without Borders thinks the right to speak freely includes the right to speak anonymously and defend it as long as long as no racial hatred,insult or call for violence is published. Moreover, back in 2004, in Polito v. AOL Time Warner, Inc., 78 Pa. D. & C.4th 328 (2004), the Supreme Court held the right to speak anonymously on the Internet was protected by the First Amendment, "but, if an anonymous Internet speaker engages in tortious or criminal conduct, the protection of the right to communicate anonymously must be balanced against the need to assure that those persons who choose to abuse the opportunities presented by this medium can be made to answer for such transgressions". We are not aware that Jess’ conduct was tortious or criminal and ask you to explain your action against him.

Reporters Without Borders is aware the University decided to dismiss the case and would continue with a formal disciplinay procedure against Jess Zimmerman. Instead, charging him with the same accusations it did in the lawsuit although his blog is no longer anonymous.

We are of course cognizant that a University such as Butler has to satisfy a high level of excellence. Criticisms have to be handled with care. However, our organization fears this decision is a way to intimidate and silence your student.

We urge you to take action on this issue, without harming the reputation of Butler University, the career of Jess Zimmerman or online free speech, by withdrawing the charges against him.

We trust you will live up to our expectations.

Clothilde Le Coz

Reporters Without Borders USA.

Butler’s abbreviated response came from the public relations department and, according to Clothilde Le Coz, said “The University never elected to take the legal steps to replace ‘John Doe’s’ name with Mr. Zimmerman in the complaint. No suit was ever brought against Mr. Zimmerman. In fact, Butler’s newspaper, The Butler Collegian, reported that ‘Zimmerman said he agrees that he technically was not sued, although he is the face behind ‘”John Doe."’”

In light of Butler’s refusal to address the “fear” raised by Reporters Without Borders that Butler’s “decision is a way to intimidate and silence your student,” and because Butler has neither dropped the charges against me nor explained why they have opted not to do so, Reporters Without Borders has encouraged me to publicize their letter in any way that I think will be helpful. My first step is to share it with all of you.

Increasingly, the administration of Butler University is becoming more and more isolated as this case drags on. Experts from around the world who have actually read the materials I wrote and who have actually read the incredible accusations Butler administrators and lawyers have made have all reached the same decision: there was nothing wrong with The True BU. Isn’t it time for Butler to recognize that the opinions of experts should count for something?

If I had said...

Yesterday I wrote about the irony of the Butler administration regularly attacking me for being critical of them – and doing so without being able to present any evidence of their charges. Today I want to write about a related irony. Although the Butler administration regularly claims that I engaged in “defamation, threats, harassment, and intimidation,” they can find nothing to point to to support their claims. Indeed, the spoof by Amanda Congdon ridicules the language they used in their lawsuit. Imagine what the administration would have done had I described their actions by using just some of the following descriptions – descriptions that far exceed anything I wrote:

inappropriate and just plain foolish, pathetic and wholly inappropriate, absolutely shameful, juvenile, immoral, unethical, and hopefully illegal response, unconscionable and petty, Butler University is the new McCarthy, juvenile vindictiveness, outrageous display of abuse of power, unproductive, un-Christlike, and even illegal, most disgraceful example of administrative Fascism, terrible abuse of power

In fact, though, every one of these words have been used to describe the administration and their actions, but not by me. Rather they were written by alums, by faculty members and by members of the clergy. Every one of these words can be found on the petition asking Butler to apologize for its actions. And just in case you might think that the words read worse out of context than in context, here are the statements from which they came:

From a faculty member: “These actions are beyond my comprehension—inappropriate and just plain foolish.”

From a clergy member: “This legal action is pathetic and wholly inappropriate.”

From a faculty member: “This is shameful. Absolutely shameful.”

From a clergy member: “Dr. Fong and the Board of Trustees of Butler University: As one whose academic career includes both teaching and administration at universities and seminaries, I am both shocked and outraged that Butler University has engaged in such a juvenile, immoral, unethical, and hopefully illegal response to a blog by Jess Zimmerman critical of Butler University. After eight years of the Bush Administration’s attempt to subvert the Constitution in any way it could including the freedom of speech on college campuses, for Butler University to do so of its own volition is both unconscionable and petty. There are no sacred cows where the First Amendment is concerned and that includes Butler University. This entire affair smacks of a degree of immaturity and malfeasance on the part of President Fong and the Board of trustees that is startling in its magnitude. Drop the lawsuit against Jess Zimmerman. It is a gross abuse of power intended to intimidate Mr. Zimmerman from exercising his First Amendment right of free speech as well as to threaten his status a student. I well remember the reign of terror Senator Joseph McCarthy imposed on America during the late 1940s and early 1950s. From the documents regarding the entire Zimmerman affair that I have read, Butler University is the new McCarthy.”

From an alum: “Until the Board of Trustees reins in the juvenile vindictiveness of the current administration, Butler has seen the last of my donations.”

From a clergy member: “As a graduate of an Indiana College (Hanover) and former resident of Indianapolis, I am dismayed at this outrageous display of abuse of power so contrary to the goals of higher education.”

From a clergy member: “It is sad that so many otherwise sane and gracious people can be so insecure in their organizational of theological "orthodoxy" that they resort to unproductive, un-Christlike, and even illegal ways to hide those insecurities from the public.”

From a faculty member: “This is the most disgraceful example of administrative Fascism that I have ever seen. As a Prof. Emerita, I have been proud of being associated with higher education for my career, but this suit and treatment of a student by Butler University shames all of us. What is happening to academic freedom.”

From a faculty member: “I recently retired from college teaching and have never heard of such a terrible abuse of power by any college or university.”

Recall how the administration attempted to turn my promise that students would not forget, over the long semester break, what the administration did at the end of the fall semester into a threat that warranted a law suit. Compare my promise [“I know you wanted me (and all students) to forget over the holiday, but I assure you that I have not.”], with what some others have written on the petition and imagine what the administration would have said had I written any of these things:

“A university, any university, is a symbol of learning and inquiry. To work against free speech is to work against that which a university, any university, stands for. The administration may not like the light in which it stands at the moment but that is the nature of freedom. Those who seek to hide in the darkness will die in the light.”

“This action must help repair more than just the name of Butler University, it must repair and reverse the oppressive and power mongering attitude of leaders and decision makers of Butler University. This is a Goliath action and behavior. Remember Goliath was killed by the shepherd boy David and a few stones. Before Goliath types are slain in the courts, and the hearts and minds of all people who desire doing what is right, just and fair, consider these two simple steps to bring about peace and reconcilation. Use your wisdom, not intellection power and legalism, to do what is right.”

“Bobby Fong needs to go!!!”

Yes, these statements are far more extreme than anything I wrote, and yet, like my writings, they too are not threats. Rather, they’re using language creatively to make points – points that can be distorted when taken out of context. That’s exactly what the administration did with my writing in their lawsuit, what they’re doing in their disciplinary proceedings and what they’re doing when they attack me in the notes they send out to everyone who complains about their actions.

It’s a shame that Butler administrators have been unable to understand the importance of reading language in context and the importance of allowing opinions to be expressed.

For all I know, they may be taking action against all of the people I quoted here. After all, if they really believe that what I did was wrong, these people really must have crossed the line.

If you haven't yet signed the petition to Butler administrators asking for apologies for their actions, please do so now - it only takes a second. And, while you're there, think about writing a comment of your own: freedom of expression is a wonderful thing!

Reputations

Ok, I have a confession to make. My last post was several days ago and it was an abbreviated one because I was sick. Even though I was pretty sick, it shouldn’t have stopped me from posting for this long. I’ve been slow coming back to posting because I was simply getting exhausted by all of this. Although I knew that nothing was going to go away if I simply ignored the ridiculous situation that I find myself in, I thought maybe I’d give it a shot.

From one perspective, the rest felt pretty good, but nothing much has changed. The university public relations people keep churning out letters saying that the campus had to be protected from the threats made in The True BU. I keep hearing from people who have written to administrators at Butler asking for an apology for their actions. Instead of an apology, they’ve been receiving form letters from PR discussing the “defamation, threats, harassment, and intimidation” that was supposedly included in The True BU. Of course, they don’t point to a single sentence that I’ve written in support of their ridiculous claims. The irony of having Butler opt to endorse a policy of defamation against me, with statements that are clearly false, while attacking me for writing a blog that expressed opinions that were not only well documented but have now been publicly supported as accurate by a large portion of the faculty in the School of Music, is fairly incredible.

The other thing that hasn’t changed is that the national negative attention that Butler has brought on itself through actions of this sort seems to be continuing. College newspapers around the country have been regularly reporting on the issue and writing editorials critical of Butler’s administration. As I said from the outset, Butler’s actions, while directed at me, have huge implications for students, and others, around the world. If critical speech is attacked in one place, it is actually being attacked everywhere.

The latest student editorial, along with another editorial cartoon reproduced below, appeared in the SUNY Brockport newspaper, The Stylus. The headline makes it clear where the newspaper stands: “Fight for your right to speak: censorship.” As with so much of what is being written around the country, this editorial paints Butler administration in a terribly unflattering light:

"How can Butler say they support freedom of speech, while they do that to Zimmerman? Suppressing their student's ability to question those with power, for fear of repercussions. Even if students wanted to question the administration anonymously, Butler has proven they will seek out the student and try to crush them.

Besides, what kind of student is going to want to go to a university that will sue you if you speak out against them or publish something that is less than flattering? That's like dating someone so long as they do whatever you want, whenever you want. It isn't feasible and shows the low character quality of Butler. In the end, the lawsuit, whether it was dropped or not, and the subsequent internal discipline, will be more damaging than one person's blog."

While virtually every outlet that has covered this story seems to recognize that The True BU was an appropriate way to comment on the university scene, I don’t understand why the Butler administration is willing to stand alone in the face of such relentlessly negative publicity. As I’ve said so often, there are so many very good things about Butler, but the actions of our administrators are doing incredible damage to the school’s reputation. It really is crazy that they’re willing to defame and attack their own student in a misguided effort to mitigate the damage that they have done to that reputation by taking such extreme actions in the first place. In all honesty, since I take time to tell almost every reporter I talk to about all of the good things at Butler, it seems like I care more about Butler’s reputation than do those being paid large salaries supposedly to protect and enhance it.

Sick

I'm sorry for the lack of posting recently: I've been really sick and spent a good deal of time in doctors' offices today. While I try to get healthy, check out this editorial that appeared in a student newspaper at the University of Texas. As always, I welcome your comments.

I promise to get back to posting soon.

Big Ten, Big Voices

From the beginning, I have said that this issue has the potential to affect not only students at Butler, but at other schools as well. It seems that these other students, the ones who are afraid of what this might mean for them, at their schools, are taking notice and standing up to say that the actions taken by Butler’s administration run counter to the goals of higher education.

The Indiana Daily Student, a student newspaper at Indiana University, published an editorial along with an editorial cartoon about my situation at Butler. The editorial, which ran under the headline “Bulldog Bullies” says that the course of action charted by the Butler administration “sets an alarming precedent – one that we, as students, have a duty to protest” and questions how this entire ordeal fits within the scope of Butler’s mission statement, which promises open dialogue and support for inquiry. The editorial is linked on the right and can be found here. The editorial cartoon from The Indiana Daily Student is below.



Michigan State also ran an editorial about Butler. In a piece titled “Student blogger lawsuit sends dangerous message,” The State News editorial board warns, “Butler’s administration appears to have acted recklessly. It suppressed a student’s thoughts at the interest of a valued reputation. This probably isn’t the first case of criticism that has surfaced at a university. Butler should develop a thicker skin and realize universities across the country are criticized every day — through many different mediums.” Indeed, at the end of the editorial, the editorial board points out what should have been clear to the Butler administrators who charted this course: “Sorry Butler, suing your students doesn’t shush harsh statements. If anything, it just makes them more deafening.” The Michigan State editorial, while linked on the right, can also be found here.

I’ve heard from students and student newspapers from around the country who are interested in covering this case to ensure that something similar doesn’t happen at their university. While we work to protect our rights at Butler, we are working alongside colleagues from other schools to protect, broadly, the rights of students everywhere. I’m proud that so many students from so many schools are interested and engaged enough to stand up to power and protect the values that are instilled in us by our educations: To ask questions, find answers, form opinions, and share those opinions with others.

Instead of cultivating these ideals, the Butler administration seems to want to stifle them and, with their actions, they are modeling the antithesis of what higher education is supposed to be about. This whole thing started with my blog. I encourage you to go back and read everything that I wrote. In it, I promise you, you will not find any threats to the “safety” and/or “welfare” of anyone, which is what the president, the public relations department, and the chair of the board of trustees continually say was in jeopardy. You will also not find “racial and sexual epithets,” even though the president implied I had written such things (his first memo, linked on the right). What you will find, however, are the opinions of people who are still too afraid of our administration to speak publicly. (Remember, a significant percentage of the School of Music faculty endorsed what I wrote but only through the confidentiality of a priest – see this post.) Additionally, you will find my opinions in the blog, opinions that I believe are well supported by the documentary evidence that I provided at the time. Butler administrators and public relations people, on the other hand, have chosen to make unsubstantiated and defamatory claims about me and to use rhetorical devices to make you believe things that even they know are untrue. It is this kind of anti-intellectual behavior, continually perpetrated by Butler administrators, and the desire of those administrators for retribution against people who disagree with them that has created the culture of fear at Butler. These behaviors have scared students of other institutions into action, hoping to keep their schools’ administrations from following the same undesirable and sad path Butler has opted to take.

Tomorrow...

I apologize for the lack of a substantive post tonight. While I, and many others, certainly have a lot to say, I’ve spent a good deal of time today preparing for the first step in Butler’s internal disciplinary process, which is happening tomorrow afternoon.

I’ll have something more fulfilling tomorrow. Until then, I encourage you to take a look at the new comments on the petition (www.ipetitions.com/petition/butler) and sign it if you have yet to do so. Additionally, I’ve added a number of new media links, including a piece in the US News and World Report. As I said, this coming weekend I will be on an NPR station discussing this situation and I’ll give you more information about that show as it nears. Thanks so much for your support: This issue may be about me right now, but I firmly believe that if Butler's administration is allowed continue unchecked and unquestioned, the precedent it will set has the potential to impact students’ relationships with their schools in a very big, and negative, way.