Expert: Michael Troy - 11/10/2007

Question
If I send a "nasty" e-mail to someone from an off campus e-mail, can I be reprimanded by the university for harrassment or for "malicious speech."  I know things like "fighting words" and "words that incite a riot or ensue panic" are not covered by the 1st amendment, but isn't everything else?

If I send several e-mails to one person telling them that I do not like them and detailing why I don't like them, even going so far as to say "fuck you," can I be reprimanded by the university?  If it wasn't on their campus, or on their e-mail server?  

If, under the first amendment, I can write "fuck George Bush" on a sign and walk around with it, is it possible for a university to punish the same behavior?

Doesn't the US constitution have supremacy over campus "harrassment and correspondence conduct" codes?

Just a question.  Not a specific case.

I look forward to your answer.

Thanks,
Mike

Answer
Hi Mike,

The fact that you are off-campus does not immunize you from the school reacting to your communications.  For example, if you made some sort of unprotected speech, such as making a direct threat to someone, the school could react to that.  Similarly, harassing someone by sending them repeated e-mails with the intent to annoy would also be actionable.  On or off campus, unprotected speech could be actionable.

That said, many universities have put in place codes of conduct that do violation free speech restrictions on their authority.  On or off campus, for example, you have the right to express ideas that others might find offensive.  The organization I used to work for, the Center for Individual Rights, used to challenges these on a regular basis, and almost always won.  You can read about some of those cases at their web site:

http://www.cir-usa.org

I hope this helps!
- Mike