Freedom of Speech vs Sexual Harassment

California..

On a UC campus, with a very strict Sexual Harassment policy AND a very liberal freedom of speech policy..

I create and wear a shirt that states, "Freshman Girls, Get 'Em While They're Skinny"

A female notices the shirt, complains... Is this sexual harassment?
From the sexual harassment webpage, "What is Sexual Harassment?
The simplest way to define sexual harassment is that it is uninvited and/or unwelcome and/or unsolicited and/or unwanted conduct that is being directed at you because of your sex; meaning because you are female or male
"

I am sure there is case law regarding this somewhere, I just don't know where to look.

Langos

It sounds like the webpage

you posted with the definition came from the campus site or some other such uninformed person.

Although the court will decide if your t-shirt is considered sexual harrassement or not, a good rule to remember is, it doesn't matter if you are "direction" the harrassement towards someone.

What matters is how the message is perceived.

Using your logic a picture of a woman being raped with the logo "You Go Boy!" would not be sexual harrassement because it is not directed at anyone. And this, of course, is dangerous thinking.

If you have been approached to not wear the shirt then take it off and wear it only off-campus. I find it offensive because I have daughters and if I visited the campus with them and saw you wearing the shirt I would strongly question the veracity of the school to protect my daughters.

the ultimate answer is: Yes, you have the right to wear the shirt. And yes, anyone offended by it has the right to file sexual harrassement charges against you. Is this really worth fighting about?

I respectfully disagree. Though your t-shirt is of questionable taste, you do have the right to wear it as you wish (assuming you are willing to take the responses that you might get). The statement you make is not clearly offensive and is only in the mind of the protester.

Another case of 'Morality cannot be legislated".

The First Amendment prohibition on government censorship is based on the "free marketplace of ideas." The theory is that the best way to deal with harmful or false speech is not to suppress it, but to counter it with more speech. By removing the right to express yourself, the university is establishing an open-forum for its discussion. And that is contrary to every stated principle of university life.

Simply, if the person reading your t-shirt takes offense to it, they are free to turn around and ignore it. They do NOT have the right though to force their opinions to your conduct.

The following sites provide some specific information and/or caselaw on this subject:
http://www.menweb.org/throop/harass/commentary/censor-tool.html
http://www.fairmeasures.com/whatsnew/archive/summer96/new03.html
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/legal/dp/inbrief/freedomofspeech.htm
http://www1.law.ucla.edu/~volokh/harass/
http://www.menweb.org/throop/harass/harass.html
http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/v12/1/postering.html