The College Fix

FIRE responds to USD email about investigating, punishing students for anonymous social media posts

A free speech group is asking the University of San Diego to assure students that it won’t investigate their anonymous social media posts “simply because someone finds them offensive.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told the private Catholic university in a recent letter that statements its leaders made regarding investigating students’ posts on the social media site Fizz could have a “chilling effect” on speech.

“We therefore urge USD to clarify to its community that it will not investigate Fizz posts simply because some are offended or hurt by their content, and that no student faces punishment for posts that contain protected speech,” FIRE stated in its letter.

FIRE spokesperson Haley Gluhanich told The College Fix in a recent email that the goal is “to ensure that USD is abiding by its commitment to free speech and California’s Leonard Law, and to make sure USD is not chilling student expression.”

Gluhanich said USD has not responded to its letter, which asked for a reply by June 14.

“We are disappointed not to have received a response, but we’re hopeful that USD now knows FIRE is watching its actions,” Gluhanich said.

She told The Fix, “USD should clarify to its community that it will not investigate Fizz posts simply because someone is offended or hurt by their content and that no student will face punishment for posts protected by the Leonard law or the university’s commitment to free speech.”

The Fix contacted the University of San Diego by phone and email three times in the past month, but it did not respond. The Fix asked for its response to FIRE’s letter and whether any clarifications should be made on the case.

Fizz, a social media app created for college campuses, is an anonymous platform where students can post discussions, polls, and images. Its website states Fizz prohibits “bullying, hate speech, and obscene text or images.”

FIRE’s letter addressed an April 26 email to the campus community sent by four administrators and student government leaders.

The email brought up “highly inappropriate and offensive” posts by USD students on Fizz, including “instances of cyberbullying” and “behaviors that are clearly racist, bigoted and intended to demean,” according to FIRE.

MORE: UNC to ban anonymous social media apps, prompting free speech concerns

University leaders told students their anonymous Fizz posts “will be investigated” if they “may be considered violations of the Student Code of Conduct and/or criminal laws” and in “instances where the violator is identified, the appropriate consequences will follow.”

The USD email then urged students not only to continue reporting “incidents on Fizz,” but also to come forward if they “can identify people behind the troubling posts,” according to FIRE’s letter.

The free speech group told the university its email “proposes a course of university action–including punishment–that would violate California’s Leonard Law, as well as USD’s commitment to safeguard its students’ freedom of speech.”

Its letter stated, “The Leonard Law prohibits universities from ‘mak[ing] or enforce[ing] a rule subjecting a student to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of… speech’ that the First Amendment would protect off-campus.”

USD also expresses a “binding commitment to ‘creating and maintaining an environment in which a variety of ideas can be reasonably expressed, discussed and critically examined,” according to FIRE’s letter.

However, the letter stated that “this commitment does not shield Fizz posts from criticism by students, faculty, or the broader community.”

This criticism “is a form of the ‘more speech’ remedy our nation has chosen over censorship,” according to FIRE.

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