April 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 36

LAW REVIEW

Crude Racist Skit Tests First Amendment
By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

If there is any principle of the Constitution that
more imperatively calls for attachment than
any other, it is the principle of free thought -
not free thought for those who agree with us
but freedom for the thought that we hate.
- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., United
States v. Schwimmer, 279 U.S. 644 (1929)
In February 2019, there was
widespread condemnation and
calls for the immediate resignation of the governor and attorney
general of Virginia after both men
admitted to engaging in racist
" blackface " conduct and caricatures in their youth, decades earlier. Compare the political commentary and judgments about
government officials in the court of
public opinion, which surrounded
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Parks & Recreation

this recent controversy, to the 1993
federal appeals court opinion described herein. This 1993 federal
appeals court opinion may provide
a thought-provoking perspective on
the First Amendment in the current age of social media, political
punditry and a 24/7 news cycle.
In the case of Iota Xi Chapter of
Sigma Chi Fraternity v. George Mason
University, 993 F.2d 38661 USLW
2702, 83 Ed. Law Rep. 43 (4th

| A P R I L 2 0 1 9 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

Cir. 5/10/1993), the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit (one step below the Supreme Court of the United States)
considered the scope and applicability of the First Amendment to
university sanctions imposed on a
fraternity and its members following public outcry about an " ugly
woman contest " with racist and
sexist overtones.

Facts of the Case
For two years, Sigma Chi (the Fraternity) had held an annual " Derby
Days " event, planned and conducted both as entertainment and as a
source of funds for donations to
charity. The " ugly woman contest, "
held April 4, 1991, was one of the
" Derby Days " events. The Fraternity staged the contest in the cafeteria of the student union. As part of



April 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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