BUZZ
Indiana University temporarily sanctioned all 27 approved fraternities on campus because of hazing at three of them. The decision drew a rebuke from a national free speech group who has been critical of the flagship public university’s handling of controversies.
Vice Chancellor Lamar Hylton directed all fraternities at the Bloomington university to cease “social events” except for a few, such as community toy drives and informal, unofficial meetings, according to a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Express.
The prohibition came after allegations of hazing at four of the fraternities. Though the restrictions will be lifted on December 1, FIRE still has concerns.
“IU’s initial suspension flouts the First Amendment and common sense,” the group wrote in a letter to President Pam Whitten. “Though public universities may address misconduct by suspending activities of individual chapters, the First Amendment limits both the types of consequences and the groups upon which they may be imposed.”
The school “has no legitimate interest” in punishing those “who have not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
Such “blanket punishments” cannot be squared with the First Amendment, FIRE attorney Zachary Greenberg wrote in his letter.
The lack of due process for the punished groups also raises constitutional issues, Greenberg wrote. For example, the university never provided each fraternity with specific allegations against it.
Greenberg provided further comment in an emailed statement to The Fix.
“Guilt by association has no place at America’s public universities,” Greenberg stated. “The First Amendment is clear—schools cannot punish innocent groups and students merely because they share a Greek alphabet. IU must rescind these restrictions and limit its discipline to only those groups responsible for misconduct.”
The free speech group also has billboards up in Bloomington, criticizing the school for what it sees as other First Amendment issues. The school is currently facing a lawsuit after it fired the faculty advisor of the student newspaper.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is also critical of how the public university handled pro-Palestinian protests on campus, and subsequent restrictions it put in place.
“This is a campus where students practice self‑silencing to survive the semester, where faculty measure every sentence against the week’s political weather, where the oxygen of inquiry thins until only the safest words remain,” the group alleges.
