Massachusetts College Decides Criticizing The Chinese Government Is Hate Speech, Suspends Conservative Student Group [1]https://share.newsbreak.com/36stzgws Tech Dirt from the highly-educated-but-apparently-low-on-common-sense dept A college has done something dumb and unconstitutional. Not all that surprising. Neither is the response, coming from Adam Steinbaugh and FIRE (Foundation for R ights in Education). Emerson College may be a private university, but that doesn't mean it can just i gnore the First Amendment. In fact, it says it won't ignore these rights, which obligates it to uphold them. This is Emerson College in its own words (archived link in case the college decides to disappear it): As an institution dedicated to Communication and the Arts, the first amendment o f the US Constitution is of high importance. The right to freedom of speech, fre edom of press, freedom of political belief and affiliation, freedom from discrim ination, freedom of peaceful assembly, and petition of redress or grievances is not only a right but a community responsibility. [...] The College encourages students to present ideas, express their individuality an d culture, and be open to thoughts or life styles that differ from their own. Truly inspiring. And Emerson College truly respects this right. Except when it d oesn't. Emerson College suspended a campus chapter of conservative student group Turning Point USA on Oct. 1 after members passed out stickers critical of China’s gover nment. The "conservative group" was Turning Point USA, one created and led by unfortuna te human being Charlie Kirk and supported by people who think Charlie Kirk actua lly has anything useful to offer anyone. No matter what anyone thinks about TPUSA (including me!), this response is not o nly overblown, but completely ignores the content of the stickers Emerson (and s ome of its students) got all investigatory about. Under pressure from other student groups who accused TPUSA of anti-Asian bias an d xenophobia, including the Emerson Chinese Student Association, the college lau nched an investigation into the group. In an Instagram video, the TPUSA chapter said the stickers are critical of the Chinese government, not the Chinese people . On Oct. 1, the TPUSA chapter’s leaders received a letter from Julie Rothhaar-San ders, Emerson’s director of community standards, stating that the college had la unched a formal investigation of TPUSA under Emerson’s Bias-Related Behavior and Invasion of Privacy policies. While the investigation is active, TPUSA faces “interim action,” meaning the group is barred from normal activities, such as ho sting events or reserving campus space for meetings. Is this really "anti-Asian bias" and/or "xenophobia?" This is the sticker in que stion, which references a famous meme that originated in a multiplayer game:  If you can't see the picture, it features a little "Among Us" spaceman guy dress ed in red with a hammer-and-sickle insignia. Underneath it is the phrase "China Kinda Sus." "Sus" being short for "suspicious." Notably it does not say "Chinese people are sus" or "Orientals are sus" or anyth ing else that suggests this sticker refers to anything but the country and, by e xtension, its government. Is China kinda sus? You be the judge. It refuses to recognize Taiwan as a countr y, has turned Hong Kong's government into an extension of its own following mont hs of pro-democracy protests, subjects its citizens to intrusive, omnipresent su rveillance, censors its citizens and companies providing internet services, and is engaged in the ongoing persecution of certain minorities. That's all pretty " sus." Yet, the college chose to believe this was actually an offensive thing to say an d bypassed its own stated support for protecting First Amendment rights to limit TPUSA's activities on campus. That has led to FIRE and Adam Steinbaugh not-too-gently reminding the college ab out First Amendment protections and the college's promise to respect these right s. This is from FIRE's letter [PDF]: The stickers distributed at Emerson and elsewhere are critical of China’s govern ment. They follow a long tradition of student protests on American college campu ses criticizing foreign nations, whether those opposing South Africa’s apartheid or, more recently, the government of Israel. Freedom of expression entails the right to criticize not only our own government , but those of foreign nations, even when that criticism is offensive to the “di gnity” of those states or threatens to upend “vital national interest[s.]” Even if the college is concerned about its obligations under Title VII, which re quires it to investigate and respond to allegations of hostile student environme nts, this sticker ain't it. First, the speech is not based on race, ethnicity, or national origin. The stick ers do not invoke or traffic in stereotypes associated with people of Chinese de scent or origin. Instead, the stickers are speech critical of China’s government . The stickers utilize the familiar emblem of the sole governing party of the co untry, superimposed over a video game character bearing the same red color of Ch ina’s flag. The sticker’s text (“China kinda sus”) refers to the name of the cou ntry, not its people. Criticism of a foreign government is not inherently critic ism of the people it purports to represent, even if people who hail from, descen d from, or support that particular nation find that criticism personally offensi ve. Second, even assuming the stickers’ message was capable of being construed as sp eech based on race, ethnicity, or national origin, it does not rise to the level of peer-on-peer harassment as properly defined under the law. If Emerson wants to stay out of the lawsuit defendant business, it will drop thi s investigation and reinstate TPUSA's rights and privileges. If it would rather continue to pretend that criticism of a foreign government is somehow harassment of the student body, it should probably give its legal counsel department heads up that it will be expected to defend the indefensible in the near future. Oh, and even if you could make the argument that the combination of TPUSA and it s stickers were problematic, Emerson took all this up a notch when its Twitter a ccount started "hiding" any tweet that referenced China, including images of Win nie the Pooh. In case you don't recall, China has a longstanding policy of censo ring images of Winnie the Pooh because its President, Xi Jinping, vaguely resemb les the fictional bear. Wow. Emerson College—which is investigating a student group for stickers critica l of China’s government—is hiding tweet replies that mention China. *Including o nes that only show Winnie the Pooh, which is censored in China because people mo ckingly compare him to Xi Jinping.* [2]https://t.co/PhwjFwnOHopic.twitter.com/q0 A6dgUF2s — Sarah McLaughlin (@sarahemclaugh) October 7, 2021 So, yeah, an American college was literally hiding tweets in the identical manne r as the Chinese government, to avoid upsetting the Chinese President. Of course , that only resulted in a lot more posts about Winnie the Pooh, nearly all of wh ich Emerson College has hidden. It also blocked users who were tweeting Winnie t he Pooh images. Kinda sus, actually. And really, doesn't live up to the promise of a college that "encourages students to present ideas, express their individua lity and culture, and be open to thoughts or life styles that differ from their own." Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for ever yone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We wo rk hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. 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Than k you. –The Techdirt Team Filed Under: 1st amendment, charlie kirk, china, free speech, hate speech, kinda sus, massachusetts, winnie the pooh, xi jinping Companies: emerson college Shared from NewsBreak References 1. https://share.newsbreak.com/36stzgws 2. https://t.co/PhwjFwnOHopic.twitter.com/q0A6dgUF2s