Response to the Legal Department

The folks at CCSU legal are working hard to protect First Amendment rights -- and it can certainly be debated as to whether or not this speech is "obscene" -- after all, urinating on someone without consent (and 14 does not reach the age of consent) is illegal; might that constitute obscene speech?

But that notwithstanding -- legal folks can, will, and SHOULD wrangle this one out, perhaps in court if someone wanted to take up the pursuit -- the focus needn't be there. Let 'em spew whatever speech they want. The real issues -- and the ones legal folks can't get around are these:

1) STUDENT FEES have been used to demean, harass, and intimidate. For other news outlets, one has to subscribe. Are students able to choose whether or not to subscribe to this newspaper? Nope. No choice. First, there is no alternative -- read the report Ms. Magnan offers up -- CCSU has no intention of allowing an alternative newspaper. It is The Recorder or bust. So what is the alternative? Refuse to pay fees. Demand your fees be returned to you for this semester. This is classic taxation without representation. There are no alternatives here, so it is impossible to turn away to an alternative. I didn't pay my hard - earned money just to be told that I have to suck it up and deal with it. I've been unduly taxed, forced to pay for the humiliation of myself and others. No way. Money back!!

2) A HOSTILE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT is in place here. Is the educational environment a workplace environment for students? Perhaps -- check the law. And if it is, or if it is unclear, pursue it in a court of law. Faculty, staff, and students all have been harassed, intimidated, and threatened -- satirizing rape and the kidnapping and degradation of a Latina are only two examples. This is classic definition of a hostile workplace environment.

so fine that it is free speech -- free speech isn't when it limits the speech of others, and students don't have access to the current newspaper or an alternative. Moreover, who feels comfortable speaking back in this environment? Well, these are the legal questions we need to be asking of ourselves, student government, the administration, the Board of Trustees, the Attorney General, the Victim's Advocate, and the Governor. Laws may well be broken here, and it may have nothing at all to do with the First Amendment. After all, last I checked, the Fourteenth Amendment still mattered, too.