UW convenes “free expression” working group in wake of anti-queer incidents

University President Ed Seidel said he will update campus on the working group’s suggestions next fall. A faculty letter accuses Seidel of “bothsidesism” on the issue of trans rights.

The University of Wyoming will consider how to support “freedom of expression and constructive dialogue on campus,” according to a Tuesday email to campus from UW President Ed Seidel.

The president’s message follows a spree of harassment in December that saw queer-friendly events delayed or shut down and resulted in a one-year tabling ban for a church elder who publicly targeted a trans student.

The spree of harassment transpired not long after a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay bar and just ahead of the Wyoming Legislature’s 2023 general session — a session already littered with a number of anti-gay and anti-trans bills.

Laramie Faith Community Church Elder Todd Schmidt’s table in the Wyoming Union after he was made to remove the trans student’s name.

But the events on campus — and the administration’s response — generated criticism from both the right and left, with the former claiming UW is not doing enough to protect the free speech of people like the church elder and the latter claiming UW is not doing enough to protect its queer community members.

Seidel has now announced the formation of a working group set to tackle some of these issues.

“One of the things that makes UW so special is the diversity of perspectives and experiences we bring to campus — and there is space for all of them here,” the president writes. “The Freedom of Expression Working Group will present its recommendations to me in May, and I will update the campus on next steps in early fall. As always, this semester I ask that you approach challenging conversations with curiosity, openness and, above all, respect for those engaged in the dialogue.”

It’s not clear if the working group will place more emphasis on brainstorming ways to defend a “diversity of perspectives” or on brainstorming ways to defend a “diversity of experiences” — but the inclusion of both suggests UW administration is worried about the criticisms coming from both directions.

President Seidel’s statements on similar issues have, in the past, been ridiculed for refusing to take a side or even a stance.

This alleged “bothsidesism” is now being scrutinized again — in a letter to UW administration signed by 20 units and departments across campus, and by various individual faculty from at least 12 more units.

Sent shortly after the incidents in December, the letter outlines the threat posed by a rising culture of anti-queer sentiment.

“This hate speech is likely to foment further violence against students and members of the community which UW professes to value and protect,” the faculty letter states. “Further, we and our alumni and supporters are concerned about the lackluster response from the university’s leadership.”

The church elder who targeted an individual trans student by name while tabling in the union was first confronted by students. Then UW personnel responded and made the church elder remove the name from his table banner, but let him remain in the union for the rest of the day. Throughout the afternoon, he stood behind his table banner, now lacking the student’s name, but still proclaiming a more general anti-trans message.

It was only the following week — and following outcry from students and faculty alike — that UW slapped the church elder with a one-year ban. The ban stops him from tabling in the union until at least next December; he is not banned from campus, and has returned at least once to preach to students outside the union.

The faculty letter states emphatically that UW cannot allow hate speech while purporting to support its queer community — because hate speech is “calibrated to instill fear and instigate violence.”

“Bothsidesism and platitudes about mutual respect don’t cut it: hate speech is an explicit rejection of respect,” the letter states. “These actions directly resulted in UW students, staff and faculty having to shut down events and move a vigil for the Colorado Springs victims off campus and to a different day due to safety concerns following these incidents. These events and harassment directly impacted our LGBTQIA2+ community’s First Amendment rights.”

The faculty letter makes four asks:

• That UW implement a policy against hate speech;

• That UW offer proactive protective trainings such as Stop the Bleed and Active Shooter Response;

• That UW pursue only “socially just corporate partnerships,” (e.g. not bringing Chick-fil-A to campus, as it currently is, because the company’s owners have spent and continue to spend millions in a crusade to outlaw same-sex marriage, funding that crusade with profits from the chicken chain);

• That UW respond publicly to the faculty letter and support ASUW in its efforts to support the campus’ queer community.

Further, the faculty suggests cutting the balance between hate speech, protected speech, community protection and individual protection along the lines suggested by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the position paper linked to from the faculty letter, the ACLU gives an impassioned defense of free speech, pointing to its own history of defending the speech rights of the Ku Klux Klan and even Nazis, and noting that government entities with the power to suppress speech are far more likely to use it against racial and sexual minorities than in their defense.

“At the same time, freedom of speech does not prevent punishing conduct that intimidates, harasses, or threatens another person, even if words are used,” the policy paper states.