Bucknell bake sale sparks First Amendment debate

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, June, 2009 | by Susan Snyder Inquirer Staff Writer

Bake sales - typically the sweetest and most innocent of displays - again have become a flashpoint for strident political debate and free speech arguments on college campuses, this time at Bucknell University.

The "affirmative-action bake sale," at which the Bucknell University Conservatives Club charged different prices depending on a customer's race, was shut down by the administration in April. But it didn't end there.

Bucknell president Brian C. Mitchell has received about 100 letters, e-mails, and phone calls protesting the administration's response.

A Philadelphia-based national free-speech group this month blasted the school in a news release that began, "Student rights are under assault at Bucknell University. ..."

And a fledgling group of alumni...