13 Apr 2021
Free speech advocacy organization Speech First has filed a lawsuit against Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University better known as Virginia Tech over its campus censorship protocols, including ‘bias-response teams’ and ‘speech codes,’ both of which play roles in the management of speech outlined by Virginia Tech’s broader discourse-regulating framework.
The lawsuit’s section on “bias-response teams” appears to be the primary focus of the organization, and is also an area where Speech First has found legal success at other colleges. According to the organization, the “Orwellian” teams “encourage students to monitor each others’ speech and report incidents of ‘bias. ” Thereafter, the “bias-response teams” will “log the incident, investigate it… attempt to reeducate the ‘offender,’ and can recommend formal or informal discipline.” One of the foremost concerns with disciplining “bias” is that the label can be use