Campus (college and university) speech codes and the First Amendment Research Paper

Campus (college and university) speech codes and the First Amendment (topic and - Research Paper Example Because of the growing number of students using online communication and incidents involving students having been disciplined through the use of code of conduct in colleges and universities, it is important that there be an analysis made on the said issue. This paper will focus on public colleges and universities and cite some incidents wherein these institutions have disciplined their students based on a cyberspeech made. A presentation of case laws will then be made as to how the US Supreme Court, federal courts and district courts have ruled on First Amendment challenges on penalizing speeches on the basis of the codes of conduct. An analysis will then be made as to the impact of these rulings and finally will attempt to conclude that there has been minimal guidance on how federal courts have addressed this specific issue (Beckstrom, 2008, p.261). Conduct codes for students are ground rules or guidelines promoted in various institutions â€Å"in an effort to maintain a safe, yet productive, campus environment† (Berenson, 2005, p. 803). The purpose of these conduct codes generally are the following: â€Å"(1) to guide student behavior and (2) to establish procedural mechanisms that safeguard the rights of the students accused of conduct that violates a campus code† (Bach, 2003, p.1). Since public colleges and universities are considered as state entities, they are obliged to follow the US Constitution by providing procedural due process and other rights to its students, (Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975), including the right to free speech provided in the First Amendment of the US Constitution (Beckstrom, 2008, p. 261). However, there have been moves to â€Å"revisit student conduct codes† for the purpose of examining â€Å"whether off-campus conduct by students should be disciplined by the university† (DeJong & Vehige, 2008). This was to address the increasing â€Å"amount of purposeless

Case essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case - Essay Example Jill deciding not to take this particular job causes her to be fired from the contract without the terms and conditions of the contract being fulfilled over the five year period. The actions taken by the firm break specific laws and carry elements of proof in regards to the lack of creating the correct approach to the job fulfillment specifications. The laws based on job descriptions and legal requirements is based on the necessity of listing any and all duties which are expected to be fulfilled by the employee before hiring the individual. This has to be specified with a contractual agreement that is filled by both the employee and employer. When Jill was asked to not take part in the escort service, she then proceeded to take the problem to a legal entity, specifically because the service was one which is not considered legal. The whistle blowing action which Jill took part in furthered the problem. According to current movements against discrimination, one cannot be unlawfully terminated for whistle blowing against problems within the workspace or from complaints over potentially illegal activities which are in the workspace. If one decides to freely participate in acts that are considered illegal then any firing process is considered discriminatory and is not lawful. There are two areas which Jill has the right to file against in this specific case. The first is based on the written employee agreement. This has blanket statements based on the claim of allowing each individual to have the right to fair and equal treatment while expressing and acting upon any religious or personal beliefs. If the job description is not one which claims the escort services and if Jill opposes this religiously and legally, then it is her right to act upon this within her own manner while being protected by the law. If this was stated in the contract than Jill remains protected from being fired. The second area which