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Konstanty Hordynski: Targeting a Student’s Right to Free Speech

Konstanty Hordynski's parents immigrated to the United States from communist Poland. Their stories of life in a repressive regime inspired him to help organize Students Against War (SAW) at the University of California-Santa Cruz. He believes that a basic element of national security is having thinking, conscientious and engaged citizens. Hordynski was taken aback by what he found through a Freedom of Information Act request: the FBI had monitored Internet newsgroup messages about a 2005 SAW protest against military recruitment. He questions how the federal government could ignore the values of freedom, dissent and public debate on which this country was founded.

My Story

Making the Pentagon's List. The military comes every year, at least once a year ... (0:59)
A Credible Threat. When I found out that our group had made it onto the Pentagon's list ... (0:55)
The University Administration's Response. There is part of me that really is happy with the administration ... (0:49)

Themes

Freedom of Speech at the University. Universities are usually known as bastions of free speech and open discussion. Charles Muscatine, Ruth Obel-Jorgensen and Konstanty Hordynski certainly believed this to be true until they found themselves the subjects of unlawful monitoring and restrictive policies.