Columbia to Students: OK, You Can Discuss WikiLeaks

Oh yeah, we are for freedom of speech, school clarifies
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 7, 2010 4:25 AM CST
Columbia Backs Off Warning on Students Discussing WikiLeaks
Shut up? Or discuss?   (?vikas.bhardwaj)

Columbia University has apparently remembered it's supposed to be a defender of free speech and has dropped its warning to students not to discuss WikiLeaks on Facebook or Twitter. Following a warning from an alumnus at the State Department, the career counseling office of the university's School of International and Public Affairs told students not to talk about the leaked documents on social networking sites because it could hurt their future work in the government.

But now school dean John H. Coatsworth has stepped in to reassure students that “freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution." One professor went even further, saying any those who weren't discussing WikiLeaks and seeking out documents in their specialty "don’t deserve to be a graduate student in international relations," reports Wired. Click for more on groups who were told not to read WikiLeaks files.
(More Columbia University stories.)

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