SIDEBAR: Several policies printed

Excerpts from several universities' racial harassment policies will be included in a six-page supplement to today's Almanac. The documents are designed to give background for debate on revising the University's policy. Last semester, University Council called on President Sheldon Hackney to revamp the racial harassment policy in light of a Michigan court ruling that a similar University of Michigan policy was too vague and therefore unconstitutional. In October, Hackney presented a proposal for changes in the document, which narrowed the definition of racial harassment. The draft met with intense criticism at Council's October meeting from students and faculty who claimed the proposed policy would not prevent discrimination. The dissent prompted Hackney to extend the time frame for debate over the issue. The report in today's Almanac includes Michigan's revised harassment policy; Stanford University's policy, which was revised this summer and resembles Hackney's October proposal; and policies from the Universities of California and Texas. It also includes an excerpt from a 1942 Supreme Court ruling on free speech, a 1989 article by a University of Hawaii law professor on "racist speech," and two recent articles by University professors on the topic. The University's current racial harassment policy and Hackney's proposed changes are also published in the report. Hackney said at this month's Council meeting that the documents would be used to facilitate debate on the policy, and invited members of the University community to discuss the documents at a December 3 forum.

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