This article has also been translated to Tagalog.
The Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action asked campus stakeholders, including student government and the Academic Senate, to back its draft revised Foothill-De Anza Community College District Academic Freedom and Free Speech Policy.
The district’s current policies and administrative procedures, BP 4190, BP 5500 and AP 5500, outlines students and teachers’ rights, as well as Foothill College and De Anza College’s rights to discipline, penalize and regulate students.
BP 4190, BP 5500 and AP 5500 do not offer students or faculty recourse if administrators violate their academic freedom or free speech rights, outline what speech the district protects or outline what constitutes hate speech.
BP 5500 also gives the district and colleges discretion to restrict speech through standard 11 of the student code of conduct, leaving students vulnerable to disciplinary procedures.
VIDA Director Cynthia Kaufman said her institute started revamping the policy, dated Oct. 15, over the wave of campus censorship sweeping the nation.
Kaufman said she wants “stronger protection for people to teach and say what they want on our campus.”
“All over the country, students are getting expelled,” Kaufman said. “Faculty are getting fired because of their opinions.”
VIDA’s draft policy enshrines that the district supports the two rights, commits the district to both “working proactively to protect those rights” and “stand by” students and staff whose rights “are challenged” and establishes a district-wide Time, Manner and Place policy.
Kaufman said she shared VIDA’s draft with Foothill-De Anza Faculty Association President Tim Shively and his lawyer, consulting with the union on changing the policy.
“The academic freedom document is very narrow and is about a paragraph long,” Kaufman said. “The free speech (policy) for students is also very short and doesn’t say very much.”
The current policy does not protect faculty, managers and administrators from being fired for their free speech.
Additionally, the district’s Time, Place and Manner policy and procedure, BP 3900 and AP 3900, prevents expressive activities after 5 p.m. and before 8 a.m., as “expressive activities are not permitted outside the District’s hours of operation.”
“Although I’ve recently heard about the changes, I believe it’s a good change,” Drew Larson, 21, computer science major said. “This is our right and our expression, it’s something that should be expanded to not silence people.”
De Anza Student Government read over VIDA’s draft policy on Nov. 19; the De Anza Academic Senate read the proposal on Nov. 3 and Nov. 24. Foothill Academic Senate and ASFC have not read the proposal yet.
In early fall 2024, Foothill limited free speech to the bricked area of Cesar Chavez Plaza — a circle near its administration building, away from most classes — designating it the college’s only public forum.
It reversed that policy later in the quarter, defining public areas as “grassy areas, walkways and other open spaces,” but kept classifying chalk art outside the plaza as vandalism, despite regularly hosting chalk art at the library quad before.
De Anza has not added time, place and manner regulations on top of BP 3900 and AP 3900 since the Board of Trustees approved them in 2021.
Kaufman said she hopes to clear the draft with campus stakeholders next quarter, planning on presenting it to De Anza Classified Senate in January.
“I’m hoping by early winter quarter, we’ll have gotten through all those things,” she said. “ The same things at Foothill; classified, students and faculty there.”
After going through these stakeholders, it will move to the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees.
“It’s great to see someone in the school care about our rights and speech,” Morgan Anderson, 18, communications major said. “Improving the policy to better protect students and staff is what schools should also be focusing on.”
