The University Responds…

B. Joseph White, President of the University of Illinois, wrote a response to the ethics policy protest that was conducted last week.  I’ve copied that response in its entirety for anyone interested:

To: Members of the University Community

From: B. Joseph White

Re:  A Message Concerning University Employees and the Illinois State Ethics Act 

I write to you today with a simple message:

We, the leadership of the University of Illinois, will preserve, protect and defend the constitutionally guaranteed rights of every member of our University community, including, of course, freedom of speech and assembly. We will also preserve, protect and defend academic freedom, which is a core value of every great academic institution.  

Why am I communicating this assurance?  

Because the University Ethics Office, which reports to me, recently disseminated through its newsletter a briefing on the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act that was enacted in 2003.  

The newsletter is not a University policy statement. The purpose of the briefing was to familiarize us as state employees with the prohibited political activities section of the Ethics Act.    

Much of the briefing is simply informative about the state law. For example, it is not proper to use University resources to conduct political activity, nor is it proper to conduct certain political activities, such as soliciting contributions for a party or candidate, while on University time.

However, some of the newsletter’s content raised concerns among members of our community. The briefing cited certain political activities as prohibited that conflict, or appear to conflict, with fundamental freedoms.  One involves wearing a pin or T-shirt in support of a political party or candidate.  Another involves attending a rally on University property.  

Are such practices really prohibited by the Ethics Act? To date, the courts have given little if any guidance on the proper interpretation of the Ethics Act.  

I have heard from many people about this matter.  One of the most thoughtful suggested, and I agree, that University employees should be advised that they may engage in the following kinds of activities while on University property:

•  Attend partisan political rallies, provided that the employees are not on duty
•  Wear partisan political buttons, provided that employees at that time are neither on duty nor in the workplace of the University (many parts of campus are not workplaces) 
•  Display partisan bumper stickers on their vehicles

Going forward, I remain concerned about possible conflicts between the Ethics Act and interpretations of its meaning and constitutionally protected freedoms and academic freedom.  

Accordingly, the Ethics Office, other members of my staff and I will work with state officials to ensure that interpretations of the Ethics Act do not restrict constitutionally guaranteed rights of state employees and, in the case of higher education and this University, academic freedom.

This mailing approved by:

The Office of the President

Follow Up: The University of Illinois Shits on Your Freedom of Speech

I just wanted to update people about the political rally that was organized yesterday in response to the University of Illinois’ “Prohibited Political Actions” memo.  Today, those of us who attended the rally reported ourselves to the University Ethics Office (as per the requirement in the memo).  I also reported myself for contacting my government representatives in May/June of this year as part of an email/phone campaign organized by the ACLU in opposition to the new FISA bill.  There was some local news coverage of the event, including this story in the Daily Illini (i recommend you read the comments too).

I also just sent an email to the local ACLU office apprising them of the situation.  Here it is, in its entirety:

I wanted to make you aware of some recent developments at the University of Illinois.  On September 18th, the University Ethics Office sent out an email regarding “prohibited political action” that was said to apply to all U of I employees.  The list included:

• Preparing for or participating in any rally or event related to a specific political candidate, party, or referendum – this includes preparation and circulation of campaign materials, petitions, or literature

• Soliciting contributions or votes on behalf of a particular political party or candidate

• Assisting at the polls on behalf of any political party, candidate, or organization

• Surveying or conducting an opinion poll related to anticipating an election outcome, or participating in a recount challenge related to an election outcome

• Running for political office

The email specified that this was a list of things that were prohibited “while working, when on University property, while using University resources (e.g., phone, fax, paper, email, etc.), or when acting as a representative of the University.”  The ambiguous language regarding the status of certain employees (particularly graduate teaching and research assistants) seems to indicate that grad students who live on campus are prohibited from these things, and there is definitely some confusion about what constitutes “working” time and “acting as a representative” in the case of graduate and faculty positions.  The email also implied that the school will not be “policing” the campuses for these policy violations, and that individuals should report themselves or others to the University Ethics Office if there is a potential violation.  They further state that any contact with a government official should be reported to the ethics office, with the caveat that political communication made on “personal” time need not be reported.  As a graduate TA, I often work from home (grading papers and communicating with students) and this is done outside of normal campus hours.  As an active ACLU member, I also have contacted government officials from home (such as during the FISA email/phone campaign earlier this year).  There is no clear dividing line between what constitutes “personal” and “work” time for my fellow TAs and faculty.  It can also be argued that, as teachers, we are the “face” of the University even while not officially in the classroom.  Regardless of whether we actively position ourselves as representatives of the University, we have no control over how our students and other individuals perceive us outside of the classroom, which leaves a very large, problematic gray area.

The AAUP (American Association of University Professors) and GEO (Graduate Employees’ Organization) have both issued statements definitively condemning the ethics policy as stated in this email.  I would be more than happy to forward you their published statements as well as a copy of the original email from the Ethics Office.  Along with these statements, several graduate TAs organized a political rally yesterday (Thursday 10/2) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in response to the policy which received some local news coverage.  Many of the faculty and graduate students in attendance (including myself) also took it upon themselves to report their attendance at the rally to the Ethics Office in accordance with the policy.

So far, there has been no response to our actions from the University, but I wanted to make sure your office was aware of the situation.  As stated before, I would be happy to provide you with more information and documentation, and I’m sure that the graduate students who organized the rally yesterday would be more than happy to speak with you further.

Thank you very much for your time, and keep up the good fight!

Sincerely,

Mark S. Barnes, Jr.

The University of Illinois Shits on Your Freedom of Speech

There’s an ongoing debate right now at the University of Illinois regarding university employees’ freedom of speech while on campus.  Recent communication from the University Ethics Office detailed several things that constituted “prohibited political activity.”  These were the listed items:

Preparing for or participating in any rally or event related to a specific political candidate, party, or referendum – this includes preparation and circulation of campaign materials, petitions, or literature

Soliciting contributions or votes on behalf of a particular political party or candidate

Assisting at the polls on behalf of any political party, candidate, or organization

Surveying or conducting an opinion poll related to anticipating an election outcome, or participating in a recount challenge related to an election outcome

Running for political office

The email also stated:

In order to ensure compliance with state and federal lobbying laws, University policy requires employees’ communications with state, federal and locally elected officials be reported to the Office of Governmental Relations.

As an active member of the ACLU, I have participated in email and phone campaigns this summer regarding a couple of different issues (not the least of which was the FISA bill that was passed near the beginning of the summer).  While I wasn’t representing the university in this capacity, the ambiguity of the language in the email from the ethics office causes me to question whether I should be reporting myself for contacting my elected representatives on those occasions.

In protest of these ethics guidelines, a group of university employees will be contacting their state representatives to complain about the ethics policy’s violation of the constitution, then report ourselves.

RIAA and MPAA Send Out a Slew of “Graduation Gifts”

I just read this article about a recent spike in RIAA and MPAA copyright infringement notices being sent to universities (particularly in the midwest).

This news corresponds to the following mass email sent out by the DIrector of Security Services and Information Privacy at the University of Illinois just last week:

The end of every academic year can be hectic with finals, graduation, moving out and wrapping up loose ends before leaving campus for break. Copyright holders are also staying busy by using this time to put in extra effort to track down people that are illegally sharing and downloading files online. At the end of every semester, groups like the RIAA dramatically increase the number of copyright notifications that they send to the campus to investigate. In the past few days the security office has received more copyright infringement notices than it received in the previous year. Clearly, the RIAA is watching the University of Illinois network closely right now.

If you are caught downloading or sharing files illegally, not only do you face the very real possibility of being sued for thousands of dollars this summer by groups like the RIAA, but your connection to the campus network will be immediately shut off. Access may not be restored until a formal disciplinary process has been completed. Take a moment to think about your finals study schedule and think if you can afford in these final weeks to lose your ability to access your email, Illinois Compass and even your ability to surf the web.

Music and videos can be obtained at no or low-cost and legally at sites such as Ruckus and iTunes. Please use these or similar services instead of limewire, bit torrent or other peer to peer programs.

Who knows what kind of game the RIAA and MPAA are trying to play? I find it extremely disturbing that they are not only focusing their attention on universities, but that they are apparently sending out falsified information. I can only hope that the fact that many of these notices are turning out to be false will somehow undermine their efforts in the long run.

All I can say is, “Bravo, you fucking fascists.” What better way to congratulate students for their hard work and perseverance in making it through another school year than to slap them with potential lawsuits.

Writing Across Media

I received an official offer today from the head of the Writing Studies program here at U of I to help develop a new class for next fall, entitled “Writing Across Media,” which I will also get to teach! This was very exciting news, as the alternative was for me to teach a section of Business and Technical Writing, which doesn’t quite align as well with my research interests. I’ll be meeting with a team of grad students and professors over the summer to develop the curriculum for the course which will involve composition in various digital and print media (writing, film, design, etc.).

Coupled with my Desktop Publishing course (which the head of the BTW program gave me free reign over for next semester), this means I will be teaching two multimedia composition/design courses in the fall!

Too bad I’ve got papers to write and assignments to grade, otherwise I’d go out and celebrate! Guess that’ll have to wait until after the semester is over

Racial Stupidity

A year or so back, I wrote a post in my previous blog about what I termed “racial stupidity.” I’m not even going to try to find the original post, since Myspace has made searching blogs almost impossible, but basically the gist of it was that: a) some people are overly sensitive to racial issues and need to try to understand others before jumping down their throats, and b) some people are completely insensitive and try to claim that if they’re not offended by something, no one should be.

I was reminded of this for two reasons: 1) I read this blog post about some recent racial problems in S. Africa, and 2) there was a referendum on the school ballot yesterday to determine whether or not the University of Illinois should reinstate “The Chief” as its official school mascot, and I have heard (although this has not yet been confirmed) that the referendum passed by an extremely high margin. I think this comic from “The City” offers a fitting explanation of my feelings on this (click image for larger version):