Over two years after The Primary Source published its now-infamous Christmas carol about affirmative action, a committee is still working to finalize university-wide speech regulations.
Members of the Task Force on Freedom of Expression met with a special ad hoc committee of trustees during last weekend's board meeting and are now revamping their recommendations.
The task force was originally scheduled to produce a completed report by November, but its members decided to push the deadline back to get trustee input. They now hope to wrap up their work in time to present their final recommendations to the full Board of Trustees in May.
Those involved in last weekend's meeting said it was productive, but declined to comment on how the task force's proposals will change as a result of trustee suggestions.
"We had an engaging discussion," Trustee Joanne Gowa (J '72), a political science professor at Princeton, told the Daily.
In September, the task force released a draft report that seeks to balance freedom of expression with freedom from harassment. "The achievement of our educational mission requires an environment of respect, tolerance and civil dialogue," the draft, the task force's most recent public document, reads.
While Task Force Chair Jeswald Salacuse, a professor of commercial law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, would not discuss the specifics of the trustees' views, he said that they supported the core ideas expressed in the draft.
"There was nobody who condemned our work. Nobody criticized the whole process," he said of the trustees' input. "Individuals had suggestions as to how to maybe sharpen some words or expressions … It was that kind of discussion that we had."
In creating the seven-member ad hoc committee to meet with the task force, the administration called almost exclusively on trustees who work in academia. As such, many had previous experiences with campus speech policies.
"We agreed that academics on the board were in the best position to provide feedback because they have the best appreciation and understanding of academic culture," University President Lawrence Bacow said in an e-mail.
Salacuse agreed. "This is the issue of freedom of expression and the right to an education," he said. "This is an issue that has arisen on many, many different campuses across the United States. This was a well-informed group that has seen the same issues arise on their own campuses."
Bacow convened the task force last January, several months after the Committee on Student Life found The Primary Source guilty of harassment for the Christmas carol and a piece on Islam.
Some initially expected the task force to move Tufts, a private university, to a First Amendment standard. In his charge to the task force, Bacow emphasized the need to preserve "freedom of expression in a way that protects unpopular speech and ideas consistent with the First Amendment."
But Salacuse has opposed incorporating First Amendment protections into the document. The task force has also strayed away from specific policy recommendations, such as guidelines on how to punish offensive speech, preferring instead to limit itself to a statement of principles.
"Really, the draft is an encouragement to adhere to certain values as a community," Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said.
Senior Michael Nachbar, the editor-in-chief emeritus of The Primary Source, said that the task force has not affected the way the Source operates.
"It has had zero impact on what we have done," he said. "It hasn't changed our approach in any way, and we haven't noticed any change in the way things have been enforced."
