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Episode One: The Phantom Blogger

by

Greg Lukianoff

May 11, 2005

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

Check out this very interesting article by Scott Jaschik in today’s Inside Higher Education about the Phantom Blogger who may have lost her job because of her online frankness.

Rita Kirk, the department chairwoman, says that she received complaints about the blog from students and parents, and that she consulted with university lawyers about what to do about it. Kirk describes herself as a strong First Amendment supporter, but she says she worries that the blog violated students’ privacy rights and upset some students. “People need to remember that words can hurt,” Kirk says.

We will be looking into this case and I will be looking forward to her book!

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Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer in her office at the Des Moines Register

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