Non-Discrimination Policy Divides CSUF : Free speech: After hearing arguments for and against proposed ban on abusive language on campus, faculty senate adjourns without reaching a decision.

Cal State Fullerton students made impassioned appeals Thursday both for and against a proposed policy that would forbid the use of offensive or hostile language on campus.

To senior David Mendoza, president of the campus’s Conservative College Republicans, any restrictions violate the basic right of free speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

But to senior Joe Ahn, past president of the campus student government, there must be a standard policy to deal with racial epithets that many Cal State Fullerton students, himself included, have endured.

Ahn reminded faculty senate members considering the proposed non-discrimination policy of a 1986 confrontation in which two white students shoved a black student and told her that blacks weren’t wanted at Cal State Fullerton. When an Asian student intervened, one of the white students told him, “We don’t want Chinks here either,” Ahn said.

“Insensitivity here (at Fullerton) has not ceased,” he told the 50-member Academic Senate. “This policy is just a beginning; much more needs to be done.”

Professors remained divided on the specific language of the policy, which is aimed at curbing discriminatory or violent language and providing for disciplinary measures against violators. Many worried that the policy could have a chilling effect on classroom discussion of controversial subjects. Others cited constitutional concerns. But after nearly 1 1/2 hours of debating and refining the document, the faculty senate adjourned, in effect postponing further discussion until its next meeting.

Senate member Craig Ihara, one of the drafters of the proposed policy, said he hopes that faculty members will vote on it at next Thursday’s senate meeting. “But I think it’s still up in the air which way the senate is going to come down on this,” said Ihara, a longtime philosophy professor at Cal State Fullerton.

The document in question is called “Non-Discrimination Policy: A Commitment to Valuing Diversity.” It is the product of two years of study by a special campus task force and could provide unspecified discipline for faculty and penalties up to suspension or expulsion for students who knowingly use derogatory language or behavior against others.

It grew not out of specific incidents at Cal State Fullerton but rather from former President Jewel Plummer Cobb’s desire to have a policy addressing the kinds of hate crimes and incidents she saw occurring at colleges across the country, Ihara said.

“This is really a proactive attempt to get ahead of any incidents here, and we’ve done our very best to write this in such a way that it does not conflict with freedom of speech,” he added.

Yet many remained concerned about similarities to non-discrimination policies adopted at the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere that have been struck down by the courts as overly broad and contrary to the First Amendment.

Ihara pointed out that enacting the policy would still not bar someone such as failed Louisiana gubernatorial candidate David Duke from coming to Cal State Fullerton and criticizing minorities or extolling the virtues of the Ku Klux Klan.

“People seem to think that this policy would keep people from advocating unpopular views . . . and that they will have to be careful about what they say. That’s not true,” Ihara said. “Unless someone’s speech is directed at a specific individual and is intended to harm, they would not be affected.”

In any case, Ihara said, the document recommends informal solutions such as mediation and education as a first resort.