In the past, University of California at San Diego administrators have gotten into trouble for censoring offensive--but clearly protected--student expression. In 1999, the school was sued by the ACLU after punishing a student who refused to take his "Fuck Netanyahu and Pinochet" sign out of his dorm window; in more recent years, the university's attempts to silence the conservative student magazine, The Koala, have earned it the worst sort of national publicity. Now, however, it looks as though UCSD administrators may have finally learned their lesson. The Koala has again come under fire for its insensitive and offensive expression, but this time the admins are defending the publication against would-be campus censors.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

A UC San Diego investigation into the distribution and publication of a magazine ridiculing Islam has concluded that the students involved will not be disciplined because the content is protected speech.

While images and articles in the magazine portraying Muslim women as sexual objects were highly offensive, university officials said, they were satirical and therefore not defamatory.

"The campus understands that there are going to be publications that contain very offensive and objectionable content," said Nick Aguilar, UCSD's director of student policies and judicial affairs. "But the First Amendment is of higher order of importance for us in making sure we do not discourage or interfere with the rights of our students."

Unfortunately, the Koala didn't observe Associated Media Rules that require it to name the publisher and print a disclaimer stating that the views expressed in the paper are not those of the Associated Students at UCSD. So the publication may still face censure, and may still see its funding legitimately yanked. Students who want to see the Koala silenced are going to push hard for that. "Ideally, I wanted the university to say this was not protected speech," said Purmul. "Common sense tells you this should not be printed on a college campus." Purmul seems prepared to interpret a punishment for failure to follow required procedure as a punishment for failure to comply with her limited concept of free speech. If her views are representative, UCSD admins will want to be very careful about whether--and how--they sanction the Koala.