With censorship of student dissent, University of Virginia taints rep as free speech haven

The University of Virginia’s commitment to free speech — and its constitutional obligations — is facing scrutiny after it punished and censored students for offensive, hyperbolic or just contrarian remarks. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 and widely considered a “public Ivy,” the taxpayer-funded institution allowed a student-run committee to dangle expulsion over a student for a private remark that an administrative investigation found nonthreatening. This spring it threatened to expel a student for a “Burn it all down” poster on her residence hall door that criticized the university using dark imagery, on the grounds that it constituted “incitement.” UVA also faces continuing litigation from a student removed from its medical school for “questioning and critiquing the theory of micro-aggression” during a panel discussion, as a federal judge ruled in allowing the First Amendment claim to proceed… (Excerpts from Just the News)