FC: Univ of California officials reply to free speech case post

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri May 25 2001 - 10:15:33 PDT

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    I invited university officials to reply. What they said is below, and I 
    thank them for taking the time to respond.
    
    Background on "disacknowledged" case:
    http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=disacknowledged
    http://www.politechbot.com/p-02046.html
    
    -Declan
    
    ********
    
    Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 09:42:18 -0700
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    From: Charles Li <liat_private>
    Subject: Re: More on student loses speech case against Univ of
       California
    In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20010518232157.020bca10at_private>
    
    The University respects the First Amendment rights of any individual. In 
    the case of Mr. Christopher Brown, he has the right to say, write and 
    publish whatever he wishes.
    
    The faculty of a university also has First Amendment rights, and the 
    University must respect that also. In this case, the relevant First 
    Amendment right of the faculty is their freedom to choose to endorse or not 
    endorse any statements of another individual. In a thesis, the first page 
    states that the thesis represents the partial fulfillment of the degree 
    requirements and it is approved by the faculty committee that supervises 
    the thesis. At the bottom of this first page, each member of the Thesis 
    Committee signs his/her name. Signing this first page is tantamount to 
    endorsing or approving the content of the thesis from cover to cover. 
    Members of the Thesis Committee most exercise their judgement to decide 
    whether or not they wish to endorse and approve the entire thesis from 
    cover to cover.
    
    The University as an institution, just like a publishing company, a 
    television broadcasting company,  has the First Amendment right of deciding 
    whether or not it wishes to publish the writing of an individual. Making a 
    thesis available to the public who requests and pays for it is publishing 
    the thesis.
    
    I have presented the First Amendment rights of three parties: an 
    individual, a faculty member serving on a thesis committee, a university. 
    None of these First Amendment rights can or should override the other.
    
    
    
    ___________________________________________________
    Charles Li
    Professor of Linguistics, Dean of Graduate Division
    University of California, Santa Barbara
    Santa Barbara, CA 93106
    Tel: 805-893-2013		Fax: 805-893-8259
    
    ********
    
    Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 17:11:49 -0700
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    From: "Christopher M. Patti" <christopher.pattiat_private>
    Subject: Christopher Brown v. Charles Li et al.
    
    Dear Mr. McCullagh:
    
    I am the attorney representing the defendants in Christopher Brown's 
    lawsuit.  They have passed your email soliciting a response to Mr. Brown's 
    and Mr. Silverglate's statements about the lawsuit on to me.  The 
    defendants' position is quite comprehensively set out in the various briefs 
    they filed in court.  Please let me know if you would like copies of any of 
    those court filings.
    
    Regards,
    
    Christopher M. Patti
    University Counsel
    University of California
    1111 Franklin Street, 8th Floor
    Oakland, CA  94607-5200
    Tel: (510)987-9800
    Fax: (510)987-9757
    
    ********
    
    From: Chris.Brownat_private
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    To: declanat_private
    Cc: politechat_private
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Subject: Re: FC: More on student loses speech case against Univ of California
    Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 20:18:07 -0700
    Message-ID: <OF138DD0E0.C34427F6-ON88256A52.0012232Aat_private>
    
    Declan and politechbot readers,
    
    Concerning me censored thesis, we filed the notice of appeal to the Ninth 
    Circut Court of Appeals this past week.  In a little more than a year, we 
    can expect a hearing.   Because of ongoing litigation, it is unlikely that 
    you will get a response from the university, other than from Christopher 
    Patti in the Office of the UC General Counsel. (FYI, Patti took over this 
    case from David Birnbaum.  I do not have Patti's email address otherwise I 
    would share it.)
    
    Until the Court of Appeals has a chance to review the case, politechbot 
    readers and researchers in my field will not be able to go to UCSB's 
    Davidson Library to read my federally funded research.  This illuminates a 
    double wrong.  Not only has the university denied my academic freedom and 
    free speech rights, it has also cut-off other students and researchers from 
    access to ideas and opinions.  In these all-to-frequent censorship cases, 
    the greatest loser is always those who have refused access to controversial 
    works.  In this case, the administration clearly did not think that its 
    community should be exposed to honest criticism of the university. One 
    would think that this has to be embarrassingfor the academic community 
    involved.  The usual gauge of a scientific paper is the caliber of the 
    research and not whether it measues up to the Mennonite upbringing of one 
    of the faculty.
    
    Interested parties might be able to get the complete document by making a 
    public records request to the University of California, Santa Barbara Pubic 
    Records Office.  Call or write:
    
    Huerta, Raymond
      Coordinator, Public Records Information Office   805-893-2089, 805-893-2701
    2121 Cheadle Hall
    Santa Barbara, CA 93106
    Fax: 805-893-5482
    E-Mail: Raymond.Huertaat_private
    
    and ask for THE MORPHOLOGY OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, FACTORS AFFECTING CRYSTAL 
    SHAPE, by Christopher Brown.
    
    It will be very interesting to see how the university deals with multiple 
    public requests for a federally funded research that should be otherwise 
    readily available . They will likely try to 1) deny the existence of the 
    document, 2) Claim they are not in posession of such a document.  (We have 
    it on good information that it's in the special collections vault of the 
    Davidson Library).  3) Refuse to relinquish it because it is the subject of 
    legal proceedings. ( Again this should not stand because the university 
    itself is not a party to the litigation, it's officers in the individual 
    capacity are.)
    
    If one or more of you make a request, I would be interested in hearing how 
    it turns out.
    
    Cheers and Free Thinking and Writing to All,
    
    Christopher Brown
    
    BS University of California, Berkeley (yes, the home of the Free Speech 
    Movement)
    
    MS University of California, Santa Barbara
    
    ********
    
    
    
    
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