College Shorts Of Free Speech and Security

Author: Andrea Gissing

Protests Arise Over NYU Guard's Suspension

Residents of Alumni Hall, a New York University (NYU) residence hall, are protesting the university's decision to suspend the security officer on duty the night before a student was found dead in his dorm room last week.
The university suspended Officer Ryan Syphrett, indefinitely and without pay, after Tisch School of the Arts senior Justin Ulrich died. Guests of Ulrich's said they signed themselves out of the dorm on Sunday, Nov. 10, the day of Ulrich's death, which was an apparent violation of housing and residence life guest policy.
Ulrich's resident assistant found him unconscious and not breathing later in the day, but the exact time of death was not determined.
After Syphrett's suspension, residents of Alumni Hall posted signs urging students to write letters to NYU President John Sexton asking for the suspension to be lifted, and a petition was drafted calling for Syphrett's reinstatement. Two-hundred of the hall's 450 undergraduate residents have signed the petition. Residents who have signed the petition said they fear that NYU is looking for a scapegoat for the events surrounding Ulrich's death.
This is not the first time an NYU security officer has been suspended after a dorm incident. In October 2001, immediately following a sexual assault case that took place in the lobby basement of Hayden residence hall, the on-duty guard was initially suspended for allowing the assailant to enter the building. The officer was eventually reinstated and granted back pay for the duration of his suspension.

Source: U-Wire

Restrictions on Free Speech Lifted at WVU

Responding to legal pressure from the Charlottesville, Va., civil liberties organization the Rutherford Institute, West Virginia University has discontinued a policy that restricted student protesters to specified "free speech zones" on campus.
The Rutherford Institute celebrated after the university's Board of Governors made the decision to revise the policy last Friday. The institute contended that the free speech zones were an infringement of the freedom of speech.
The policy designating the free speech zones appeared in the university's student handbook in 1995. However, the zones were rarely enforced. The seven adopted zones constituted less than five percent of the school's campus, and did not include many outdoor areas long regarded as appropriate sites for public expression.
The reputed purpose of the policy was to maintain order on the university's campus.
After revisions, the only restrictions that remain are prohibitions against protesting within eight feed of another individual without that person's consent, and protesting near the entrance to the campus health care facilities.

Source: CNN.com

Security Studies Launched at the University of New Haven

The University of New Haven has become the first school to offer a master's degree in national security, a program that is set to begin in January.
The master of science program in national security is a two-year, $17,000 program that includes courses at the high-security Sandia National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.
This is the first graduate program intended to help students secure a job in the developing field of national security. It will focus on teaching both mid-career professionals and recent college graduates about national security threats and how best to understand the complexities of federal security agencies. This program follows the nationwide trend of the addition of classes in college and university curriculums to meet the demand for courses in foreign languages and international relations after the Sept. 11 attacks.
A week after the program was announced, the university received hundreds of inquiries and several applications. The first group of 25 students will start classes at the Sandia Laboratory, which is run by Sandia Corp., a Lockheed Martin company that develops weapons systems for the Pentagon. Enrollment is expected to increase by 40 more students in the fall, who will take classes at the New Haven campus. Due to national security clearance requirements, enrollment in the classes held at the Sandia Laboratory will be restricted to U.S. citizens.

Source: The Boston Globe