March 20, 2012 10:04:53 AM by
Harvey Silverglate
The New Jersey Star Ledger has a piece out today in which Paul Mulshine discusses the recent conviction of Dharun Ravi. Ravi shared a Rutgers dorm room with Tyler Clementi, a gay student who later committed suicide, and faced charges stemming from his setting up a camera to spy on Clementi. In comments I made for the article, I suggest that while Clementi's privacy rights were clearly violated by Ravi's camera setup, the New Jersey legislature's attempt to create new hate crime and anti-harassment laws in response to the Rutgers case is an overreaction that violates the principle of equal application of the law. This case should have been a matter of a fundamental violation of privacy rights. Instead, the New Jersey legislature and Rutgers administrators are fighting an ideological battle to make political correctness the law of the land.
July 15, 2011 10:14:23 AM by
Harvey Silverglate
As those who read my first book, The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses, already know, despite their reputation as places of free inquiry, personal liberty, and supportive community, college campuses have become increasingly repressive and bureaucratic institutions. Nowhere has this trend been more evident of late than in the realm of sexual assault and harassment, where unprecedented government intervention into the personal lives of students has produced alarming and irrational results.