<p>I grabbed the following from similar discussion elsewhere; these are the thoughts of Matt Skibinski, the Editor-in-Chief of the Tufts Daily from last semester. There’s been a lot of movement in this story; thefire.org , unfortunately, has failed to stay current on the events they describe which has led to an understandable level of confusion and misinformation. Hopefully, this will help add perspective.</p>
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I thought I’d comment on this since I’m the former editor of the student newspaper here, the Tufts Daily ([Tufts</a> Daily](<a href=“http://www.tuftsdaily.com %5DTufts”>http://www.tuftsdaily.com )). During my time on the paper, we covered (and were involved in) speech issues at Tufts quite a bit.</p>
<p>First, a factual correction: the university didn’t actually force the Primary Source to byline every article. That was the initial decision by a committee of faculty members, but it was overturned shortly thereafter by a dean. The Source saw no consequences for what it published, other than a loss of respect from most students and strong condemnation from the administration.</p>
<p>Since then, the university has put together a “task force” on freedom of expression to craft suggested policy guidelines for a university-wide policy on campus speech. That body hasn’t made any decisions yet, but it has released drafts of its declaration. (Here’s the draft: [Tufts</a> Daily - Task force drafts declaration on campus speech](<a href=“http://www.tuftsdaily.com/1.746660]Tufts ”>http://www.tuftsdaily.com/1.746660 ) and here’s an interview with the head of the task force about speech on campus: [Tufts</a> Daily](<a href=“http://www.tuftsdaily.com/podcast/tuftsnews/19.374500]Tufts ”>http://www.tuftsdaily.com/podcast/tuftsnews/19.374500 )).</p>
<p>My take? I think Tufts is committed to free speech on campus, and I think that President Bacow is in particular. In the Daily, we published quite a few controversial articles (and one, even, that some people would consider offensive), and nobody ever tried to stop us or punish us. Bacow’s view is that the solution to offensive speech is more speech – not censorship.</p>
<p>That said, I’m not thrilled with the task force’s policy draft; it seems to obscure Tufts’ stance on the issue rather than clarify it. But even if it is approved, I don’t think it will really have any effect on students either way – it would be a guideline, rather than a concrete rule, and it’s so vague and conflicting that it couldn’t be used to restrict student speech anyway. In the end, it’s up to the people in charge here how they deal with campus speech. The first amendment gives them a lot of wiggle room since Tufts is a private school, but the current administrators seem committed to an open speech policy anyway. Rest assured that your voice won’t be censored during your time at Tufts.
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<p>The original post is located here: [Fire.com </a> Discussion](<a href=“http://www.facebook.com/s.php?sid=afee06cc65966a2af7c0581ebcb65d49&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Fsid%3Dafee06cc65966a2af7c0581ebcb65d49%26k%3D100000004%26id%3D23489220587%26gr%3D2%26act%3D2379933256%26sf%3Dp%26n%3D-1%26o%3D4%26s%3D20&k=100000004&id=23489220587&gr=2&act=2444431900&sf=t#/topic.php?uid=23489220587&topic=5190]Fire.com ”>http://www.facebook.com/s.php?sid=afee06cc65966a2af7c0581ebcb65d49&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Fsid%3Dafee06cc65966a2af7c0581ebcb65d49%26k%3D100000004%26id%3D23489220587%26gr%3D2%26act%3D2379933256%26sf%3Dp%26n%3D-1%26o%3D4%26s%3D20&k=100000004&id=23489220587&gr=2&act=2444431900&sf=t#/topic.php?uid=23489220587&topic=5190 ) </p>
<p>Considering that nothing has been done to censor, impinge, or restrict the voice of the publication in question, much of thefire.org ’s positions seem hyperbolic to me. What I invite each of you to do, especially if you have freedom of expression concerns, is to use thefire.org ’s own profile of Tufts. This profile systematically lists the policies Tufts has concerning speech. Read the policies, and see if you have problems. [FIRE</a> - Tufts University](<a href=“http://www.thefire.org/index.php/codes/762]FIRE ”>http://www.thefire.org/index.php/codes/762 ).</p>