Saturday, October 04, 2008

1st Amendment Doesn't Apply at the University of Illinois

I've written before about their crazy ban on political "speech", but here's more:

The University of Illinois has sparked outrage by telling faculty, staff and graduate students that a 5-year-old state law designed to prevent state workers from campaigning for candidates on state time or with state resources meant they could not express support for candidates or parties through pins, T-shirts or bumper stickers while on campus. Nor could they attend any political rally or event on campus, the administration said.

The governor's Office of Executive Inspector General, which investigates ethical violations, has gone one step further, saying state law meant that university students, not just employees, were prohibited from participating in political rallies on campus--an assertion at odds with the university's interpretation. On Friday, the state attorney general's office said the ethics law did not apply to students. The office did not answer whether the law prohibited university employees from wearing political buttons while at work, attending political rallies on campus on non-work time or some of the other specific interpretations made by the university. . . .
They think strangely in Illinois.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't the university also say they had no intention of enforcing it -- which is the strangest thing of all?

Darren said...

Yes. They wanted to "inform" the employees about the law, but also say they wouldn't enforce it.

Ellen K said...

So will that apply to all campaigns, or just to any conservatives? I would like to know because I hear from relatives that the faculties are campaigning heavily for Obama.

Stopped Clock said...

http://www.parapundit.com/archives/005604.html

Children singing praise to Obama in some sort of school-like environment.