College of Law : Student blog negotiations halt after criticisms
On Friday night, Len Audaer decided to personally end the ongoing investigation and debate into SUCOLitis, the satirical blog about Syracuse University’s College of Law.
‘My apology shouldn’t come with conditions,’ said Audaer, a second-year law student who has now admitted to being one of several law school students who wrote the blog.
Audaer sent four e-mails to people who were offended by the blog or were associated with posts law school officials indicated were offensive. He apologized for any hurt he or the blog may have created.
About a week ago, Audaer, his lawyer, representatives of the law school and a federal judge were quietly negotiating to end the investigation. Then an editorial published in The Huffington Post on Thursday named SU the worst college in the country for free speech, and the university reacted by issuing a response to the statement. The response contained both comments on the ranking and updates on SUCOLitis negotiations.
Audaer said the statement was supposed to remain confidential to negotiations, as it was still being discussed and he had yet to agree to its terms. Gregory Germain, faculty prosecutor for the investigation, confirmed the statement released by the university was a version of one that had already been in the works.
Audaer said he had not originally planned on sending these e-mails or coming out as an author of the blog. But after the statement was released, Audaer viewed negotiations to be over and apologized personally.
In SU’s statement, Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina said several claims by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — which has said SU kept Audaer in the dark about the identity of his accusers and the allegations against him — are not justifiable. He said investigators do not typically provide information until the investigation is finished and a charge is put forth.
‘If a charge is brought, the law school’s rules require the prosecutor to give the charged student all documentary evidence available to him so that the student can properly prepare his or her defense,’ Spina said in the statement.
FIRE responded to the statement by posting its own response Friday, commenting on each paragraph of Spina’s statement. The response said SU cemented its spot as one of the worst colleges for free speech by releasing Spina’s statement.
Adam Kissel, FIRE’s vice president of programs, said Germain mishandled the case by trying to get a gag order on Audaer and keeping him under investigation for months. A gag order would have prevented anyone from giving quotes from documents to the media unless the outlet agreed to print the document in its entirety.
Spina’s statement said the law school hasn’t attempted to gag the press from reporting the case or gag the parties from commenting on the investigation. But the prosecutor did ask the hearing panel to prevent the parties from disclosing the names of the people who were mentioned in the blog or who are participating in the case and wish to remain unnamed, Spina said in the statement.
Kissel said SU should have recognized the speech in question was protected by the university’s own rules and that Audaer would have been willing to apologize rather than face expulsion.
‘The best outcome and most correct outcome would have been to take the student’s complaints, look at them, decide they had no merit and end the case immediately,’ Kissel said.
Despite FIRE’s criticism, SU spokesman Kevin Quinn said the university is confident in the way the SUCOLitis investigation has been handled in the law school. When students complain to SU and its colleges, the university has an obligation to students to investigate any complaints, he said.
‘The university places a very high value on free speech,’ Quinn said. ‘But we also place a high value on our students being able to study and learn in an environment that is free from harassment and intimidation.’
The latest development comes more than 100 days after investigations began. The WordPress blog SUCOLitis began publishing online in early October and used the names of real students and faculty members at the College of Law before going private Oct. 20 after reaching more than 12,000 hits.
At least one student named in SUCOLitis filed a complaint of harassment against Audaer, prompting an investigation from the law school. The blog was taken down in mid-January as part of negotiations between Audaer and the law school.
It is unclear what will happen with negotiations in the next day or so, Audaer said. Since he has already given the school the apologies and admissions it first wanted, he said he believes any more negotiations would be a way for the law school to save face.
Germain, the faculty prosecutor for the investigation, said he hopes the matter can be resolved within the week but does not have another meeting scheduled with Audaer.
‘I’ve got to decide what is best for the school at this point,’ Germain said.
Audaer said he believes the most likely outcome will be the school will reserve the right to include a statement about his participation in the blog in the letter recommending him to the bar. Each law school student receives a letter from the school for the bar. Audaer said he doubts mentioning the blog in his letter will hurt his chances of passing the bar.
Audaer said he does consider SU a place that is unwelcoming for free speech, but he was not sure if SU was the worst in the country. The school made a ‘very clear promise of free speech’ that it is not living up to, Audaer said.
SU was given a speech code rating of red by FIRE, which means at least one policy at the university restricts free speech. But Kissel, of FIRE, said there is a strong chance SU will be moved up very soon to the red-alert list, which identifies the worst violators of campus rights.Said Kissel about SU: ‘It’s a dangerous place for free speech.’
Published on January 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm
