Clay Calvert Comments on Colleges’ Rescinding Admissions Due to Racial Social Media Posts

Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is quoted in “College Rescinding Admissions Offers as Racial Social Media Posts Emerge” published in The New York Times on July 2.

The article focuses on schools and universities across the country that have rescinded admissions offers to incoming students over instances of racism that circulated online. Outraged students and university alumni demanded swift action.

Citing Calvert, the article said “while private schools are not bound by the First Amendment and its protection of speech, public universities, as government institutions, must contend with the potential legal consequences of penalizing students for racist or sexist language.”

“But the First Amendment does not guarantee the right to be admitted to a state university with an admissions process that considers ‘the whole person,’ beyond just grades and test scores,” Calvert said. “A public university is going to have an easier time rescinding an offer of admission than actually expelling a student who is taking classes and says something offensive.”

Posted: July 4, 2020
Category: College News, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News
Tagged as: Clay Calvert, First Amendment, Racism