University of Virginia alum and FIRE executive director Erich Wasserman has a few choice words to say about speech codes at his alma mater. Noting that former UVa president, law professor and director of UVa's Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Freedom of Expression Robert M. O'Neil has proudly--and falsely--bragged about how UVa does not have a speech code, Wasserman issues a firm and damning correction in the form of an op-ed in the Cavalier Daily:

Robert O'Neil of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression asserts, "I've always been proud that this institution never adopted [a speech code] because any change in student conduct rules has to originate in the [University] Judiciary Committee."

O'Neil should know better. The University has numerous speech codes in force right now. The University's restrictive speech codes chill constitutionally protected expression and legitimate the punishment of students and faculty for their thoughts.

Here are some examples of speech codes on the basis of which University students and faculty may be expelled or terminated for uttering, writing and, ultimately, thinking, no matter what the forum:

The "University of Virginia Policy on Discriminatory Harassment" prevents members of the University community from:

"Directing racial or ethnic slurs at someone," "telling persons they are too old to understand new technology," "teasing or mocking a person with a disability," "ridiculing a person's religious beliefs," "persisting in requests for dates after being told they are unwelcome"and "sending unwelcome e-mail containing sexual jokes."

Under these policies, the University would outlaw Richard Pryor, Eminem, and Voltaire's presence on grounds.

The "U.Va. Sexual Assault Education Office" says:

"Harassment... comes in many forms, such as teasing, innuendo, inappropriate sexual comments, street harassment... obscene jokes or e-mail messages, sending pornographic photos, sexist graffiti, etc. More serious episodes tend to involve groups of men who denigrate women by rating their sexual attractiveness, whistling and shouting lewd comments."

The University's Office of Equal Opportunity Programs identifies "problematic behavior" in its "Sexual Harassment" policies:

"Jokes of a sexual nature, "suggestive comments about physical attributes or sexual experience," "gestures of a sexual nature" and "sexually suggestive e-mails."

These policies are vague and overbroad and can be used to pursue a student who makes a single comment or joke.