Does grading violate the freedom of speech?

Case Type:		Actual
Exigence:		In 1997, after midterm evaluations were distributed, some students argued that being evaluated on their postings to the class newsgroup violated their rights to freedom of speech. Several people who were not class members also intervened in the debate, which raised a separate issue of whether they should be excluded.
Audience:		You, as their fellow students; me, their instructor.
Possible Constraints:		The threads of the debate: Unofficial thought "To Grade or Not To Grade" Response to Responses Is this newsgroup a public forum? Is this newsgroup a system of free expression? Other people Varying opinions Discrepancies? Is this newsgroup "distorted" by instructorial power?
Decision:		After reconsidering the grading scale, I (the instructor) decided to retain it substantially. Although the scale does have implications for freedom of speech (if only because it forces students to speak at all), these are kept to the minimum necessary to fulfill the (unfortunately, perhaps) required university function of grading. There are safeguards built in to the grading scale and its administration, for example, to ensure that students are not evaluated on what opinions they hold, but on how well they express them. Indeed, the participants in this debate who presented arguments--even the most violently anti-instructorial--had their grades improved thereby. Further, any student with really deep objections to newsgroup participation could probably talk me into allowing an exception. So I didn't move, although I have changed the wording of the scale in an attempt to prevent certain miscommunications from arising. You, on the other hand, can decide this issue for yourself.
Related issues:		Northwestern Universities
Notes:		Text here

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Copyright © 1998 Jean Goodwin. All rights reserved.
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Last updated 2 January 1998
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