New USG committee raises speech issues [Penn State hate speech]

Penn State Young Americans for Freedom (PS-YAF), the self-proclaimed "nuclear bomb of the conservative movement," is distributing fliers this week saying students' First Amendment rights are at risk.

The organization questions the constitutional validity of the Tolerance and Equality Committee (TEC) recently created by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate, said Sean Clark, PS-YAF chairman.

"It looks like [the TEC] is going to be a blatant infringement on student organizations', students', and faculty's rights to free speech," Clark said.

The fliers refer to the TEC as a "fascist committee," and call some USG Senators "tyrants-in-training."

The TEC's guidelines state that the committee's goal is to "assess the efficiency and effectiveness" of Penn State's administration and any student organizations accused of committing an act of hate, provide information to Senate concerning specific acts of hate, and communicate that information to "stakeholders" of the act of hate. The TEC defines "stakeholders" as all parties with an interest or concern with the act of hate.

An act of hate, under the TEC's guidelines, could be any act that negatively targets a person because of his or her race, sexual orientation, age, political ideology or other attributes. Failure to report an act of hate is also defined as an act of hate by the committee.

Clark said the TEC's definition of hate is broad and it disregards the First Amendment because an act of hate could include actions traditionally protected by the courts.

An example of such actions could be the speech of Gary Cattell, known as the Willard Preacher, criticizing homosexuals on religious grounds, Clark said.

Committees such as the TEC are usually the first step toward speech codes, Clark said. A speech code is a set of guidelines stipulating what an individual can and cannot say. Speech codes have consistently been shot down by federal courts, he added.

The 1992 Supreme Court ruling on the case RAV v. City of St. Paul overruled a law prohibiting the placement of any symbol, such as a burning cross, on public or private property that aroused anger in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender. The Court ruled that the law violated the First Amendment on the basis that it restricted free expression and was too broad.

Town Sen. Mike Gallo said he opposes the TEC's definition of acts of hate because it is unclear.

"If their definition wasn't so overly broad and vague, I'd have no problem with that," Gallo said.

While Gallo said he is not opposed to a committee designed to research acts of hate, he is opposed to the TEC because it gives students a false impression of their rights.

Gallo said if students believe they are not allowed to make comments that could be considered hateful by others, they might abstain from exercising their First Amendment rights.

Town Sen. Michael Yohannan, one of the TEC's supporters, said he hoped the committee's definition of acts of hate is broad.

Yohannan said the TEC does not infringe on First Amendment rights and added that the committee was designed to protect people's rights.

Another proponent for the TEC, Town Sen. Manish Vaidya, said he would not call the committee's definition of acts of hate broad, but inclusive.

A recent USG press release states that the senators supporting the TEC seek to defend all students' free speech rights but that hateful speech is not protected by the First Amendment.

Speech such as hateful jokes hurts the foundation of the university, Yohannan said.

"There's a big difference between protected speech and an act of hate," Yohannan said. "If you're making a joke and you're hurting people, that's where you crossed the line."

The TEC will serve to indicate where the line is drawn, said Alison Young, USG chief of staff.

The 1992 federal District Court ruling on Iota Xi Chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity v. George Mason University, states that speech cannot be regulated based on its perceived offensive content. The case occurred after George Mason University sanctioned the fraternity when one of its members put on a public display synonymous to a minstrel show.

When the TEC thinks people have hurt others through hateful speech, it will make them aware of how their actions affect individuals and the Penn State community as a whole, Town Sen. Chris Brown said.

All students can voice concerns they might have about the TEC during open student forum at USG Senate meetings at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays in 302 HUB-Robeson Center, Town Sen. Sean Miller said.

Reverend Peterson's "Stop Reparations" Speech at Penn State may be the motivation for this attempt to gag anyone who disagrees with the extreme left ideology promoted by too many people at PSU.

Another proponent for the TEC, Town Sen. Manish Vaidya, said he would not call the committee's definition of acts of hate broad, but inclusive

lol, I sure Manish (do you suppose he could be a girl)didn't mean inclusive but rather diverse. lol.

From an earlier issue of the Collegian, Oct. 10:

By creating this committee, Senate will be fighting hate through censorship, South Halls Sen. Mike Jozkowski said. No matter how distasteful someone's views are, it is not Senate's right to restrict them, Jozkowski added.
Town Sen. Sean Miller opposed Gallo and Jozkowski's objections to the committee, and said he was not in total agreement with U.S. Constitutional law.

Miller is one of the students who voted for the speech code rules. Full story at

In my previous post I left out the link to the original Collegian story that I referred to. It's Dealing with acts of hate focus of new USG group

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