REGIONAL REPORT : Colleges Grapple With Issue of Policies to Restrict Speech

The national movement that has resulted in disciplinary codes aimed at restricting hate speech on campus has had a scattered effect in Southern California, according to college and university administrators surveyed Thursday.

The speech controversy, which has led to bitter debate on campuses across the country, is very much alive at Cal State Long Beach and Occidental College, where efforts are being made to refine policies dealing with language that is offensive to members of racial or ethnic minorities and gays.

A measure to forbid such speech was defeated 43 to 12 Thursday by the faculty senate at Cal State Northridge. Opponents of the so-called discriminatory harassment measure had argued it would restrict the flow of ideas. Supporters said it was needed to safeguard students’ civil rights.

Earlier this week, the faculty senate at San Diego State University issued a statement “reaffirming free speech on campus,” said John Gaughen, coordinator of student affairs.

At Cal State Fullerton, a human relations task force, working with the faculty affairs committee, has been stymied for the past two years in developing a policy on non-discrimination that would include references to hate speech, said Prof. Stewart Long, chairman of the academic senate.

But at Cal State Los Angeles, there has been no movement to develop a hate speech policy, according to spokesman Bill Meredith. And at Cal State Dominguez Hills, students are told through an “advisory”--rather than a code--that they should be mindful of one another’s rights as individuals, said Richard Turner, associate vice president.

“We believe in the First Amendment and in exercising no prior restraint against individuals,” Turner said.

For the past two academic years, the University of California has had a systemwide code prohibiting students from using “personally abusive epithets” that are “inherently likely to provoke a violent reaction.” These include “derogatory references” to race, ethnic origin, religion and sex.

But since the code went into effect, UCLA has “not had a case that we have pursued along these lines,” said Allen Yarnell, assistant vice chancellor. At UC Santa Barbara, a group of students were accused of violating the speech code during an incident in a dormitory but were later found innocent, said university spokesman David Salisbury.

Nevertheless, Yarnell said the hate speech code is worthwhile. “Having it in your arsenal is helpful,” he said.

As with UCLA, the Claremont colleges have sought to limit their policy to the type of language the U.S. Supreme Court has called “fighting words.” The offensive speech has to interfere with a student’s ability to carry on his or her academic or personal life or be on the verge of leading to “violence or significant disruption” before it can result in disciplinary charges, said Claremont McKenna College spokesman Robert Daseler.

This year, there have been no such cases at any of the Claremont colleges, Daseler said.

At Cal State Long Beach, however, two incidents this year--one involving a football coach and the other a professor--unleashed an intense debate on the issue.

In March, the coach made a racially derogatory remark to a black athlete. One month earlier, an educational psychology professor was accused of belittling African-American culture in class and using a racial slur in a conversation with a student.

Such reports are escalating at Cal State Long Beach, according to spokeswoman Toni Beron. As a result, a statement of discriminatory harassment was drawn up and is pending in the academic senate, where it is expected to be voted on in the fall. As with other hate speech policies, the proposed statement does not specify which words are considered “fighting” or “insulting” words.

“What this statement is is a move on the part of the university to make more widely known existing policies on racial harassment,” Beron said.

At Occidental College, the college council, which is made up of representatives of staff, faculty, students and administrators, is exploring the possibility of clarifying an existing policy that provides protection against verbal harassment but does not further define it.

But instead of a “legalistic code,” the council is leaning toward simply issuing a “statement of key beliefs” that would urge the college to “develop a climate of mutual respect,” said spokeswoman Frances Hill.

“We’re going to be very careful not to do anything against the principle of free speech,” Hill said.

Times staff writers Henry Chu in Orange County, Adrienne Goodman in Ventura County and Bernice Hirabayashi in San Diego contributed to this article.