FIRE's Speech Codes of the Month
Each month, FIRE features a college or university with a particularly egregious speech code as its Speech Code of the Month. The Speech Code of the Month feature serves both to educate the public about the broader problem of speech codes on campus and to use public pressure to encourage particular institutions to abandon repressive policies. Speech codes that have been revised as a result of being featured as Speech Code of the Month are marked below as REVISED.
Speech Code of the Month: University of Louisville
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for May 2008: the University of Louisville. The University of Louisville's Code of Student Conduct prohibits "[e]ngaging in intentional conduct directed at a specific person(s) which seriously alarms or intimidates such person(s) and which serves no legitimate purpose," but this hopelessly vague and overbroad restriction on speech has no place at a public university. Louisville also defines "hostile environment harassment" as "unwelcome comments or conduct that have the purpose of... creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or learning environment that a reasonable person would find threatening or intimidating." However, this definition fails to meet the exacting standards for peer-on-peer harassment supplied by the Supreme Court, resulting in an impermissibly vague restriction on expression that serves to chill speech on campus.
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Speech Code of the Month: Murray State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for April 2008: Murray State University in Kentucky. The Women's Center at Murray State maintains a guide to sexual harassment that provides students with numerous examples of sexual harassment, including, among others, "telling sexual jokes or stories"; "looking a person up and down (elevator eyes)"; and "displaying sexual and/or derogatory comments about men/women on coffee mugs...." Unless these behaviors rise to the level of severity and pervasiveness necessary to constitute actual harassment, however, they are constitutionally protected expression, which Murray State—as a public university—is obligated to protect.
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Speech Code of the Month: Valdosta State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for March 2008: Valdosta State University. Valdosta State, a public university with over 11,000 students, maintains just one small "Free Expression Area" on its large campus. To make matters worse, the Free Expression Area is only available between the hours of "noon and 1 pm and/or 5 and 6 pm"—just two hours a day—and must be reserved 48 hours in advance, without exception. This free speech zone policy—easily the worst FIRE has ever seen—is just one more example of Valdosta State's disregard for the First Amendment: the university already has a spot on FIRE's Red Alert list for its shameful treatment of student Hayden Barnes, who was expelled for peacefully protesting the construction of new parking garages on campus.
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Speech Code of the Month: University of Utah
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for February 2008: the University of Utah. This public university's Department of Housing & Residential Education prohibits the posting of "any information that is deemed to be racist, sexist, indecent, scandalous, illegal, inciting, advertise alcohol or illegal substances, or in any way oppressive in nature." The prohibition on posting any "scandalous" information hearkens back to the Victorian era; it also prohibits broad swaths of constitutionally protected speech, as do the restrictions on "racist," "sexist," or "oppressive" postings. Moreover, the policy gives residence life administrators seemingly unfettered discretion to define all of those vague and general terms. As a public university, the University of Utah is bound to uphold its students' First Amendment rights, and this policy utterly fails to do so.
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Speech Code of the Month: Texas Southern University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for January 2008: Texas Southern University. Texas Southern's Student Code of Conduct prohibits "intentional mental or physical harm," which it defines as "Knowingly or recklessly causing or attempting to cause by acts and/or threats, emotional, mental, physical or verbal harm to another person ...This includes intimidation, emotional force, embarrassing, degrading or damaging information, assumptions, implications, remarks, or fear for one's safety." The policy's exceedingly vague proscriptions make it difficult—if not impossible—for students to know what is actually prohibited, leaving the university with unfettered discretion to punish students for constitutionally protected speech. At a public university like Texas Southern, this policy is both wholly unconstitutional and morally reprehensible.
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Speech Codes of the Year: 2007
Speech Code of the Month: University of Cincinnati
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for December 2007: the University of Cincinnati. The University of Cincinnati maintains a “Free Speech Area” policy limiting free speech to just one small area of campus and requiring that activities even in that area be formally scheduled through the Campus Scheduling Office. The policy also provides that “anyone violating this policy may be charged with trespassing.” While free speech zone policies are unfortunately all too common on college campuses, this is the first time FIRE has actually seen a public university threaten students with criminal prosecution simply for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech outside of a small designated area or for failing to register their protest or demonstration in advance. This is truly shameful conduct on the part of a university legally bound to uphold its students’ First Amendment rights.
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Speech Code of the Month: Saginaw Valley State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for November 2007: Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU). SVSU, a public university in Michigan, maintains a Policy on Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Racial Harassment that prohibits, among other things, “degrading comments or jokes referring to an individual’s race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or familial status, color, height, weight, handicap or disability.” “Harassment” is an exacting legal standard; most “degrading comments or jokes” do not even approach this standard and are wholly protected by the First Amendment. The notion that adult college students somehow need to be protected this type of speech is ludicrous.
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Speech Code of the Month: Lewis-Clark State College
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for October 2007: Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. Lewis-Clark’s student harassment policy provides, in relevant part, that “Any practice by a group or an individual that…embarrasses…a member of the College community…and which occurs on College-owned or controlled property or while the violator is attending or participating in a College-sponsored event or activity is prohibited.” If anything is an embarrassment to the Lewis-Clark “College community,” it is the administration’s ignorance of the First Amendment. This policy is both unconstitutionally overbroad—most speech that might ‘embarrass’ another person is nonetheless entirely constitutionally protected—and fundamentally unfair, since it could never be enforced across the board. There is simply no way that the Lewis-Clark administration could respond to each and every incident of “embarrassment” among the more than 3,000 students on its campus, leaving students vulnerable to arbitrary enforcement by the administration. FIRE is calling on Lewis-Clark State College to repeal this unfair and unconstitutional policy.
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Speech Code of the Month: The Ohio State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for September 2007: The Ohio State University. The Office of University Housing at Ohio State, a public university, maintains a Diversity Statement that severely restricts what students in Ohio State’s residence halls can and cannot say. Students are instructed: “Do not joke about differences related to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, ability, socioeconomic background, etc.” It also contains the following cryptic prohibition: “Words, actions, and behaviors that inflict or threaten infliction of bodily or emotional harm, whether done intentionally or with reckless disregard, are not permitted.” This policy both squelches the type of frank expression that often characterizes college student communication and violates students’ constitutional right to free speech.
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Speech Code of the Month: University of Iowa
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for August 2007: the University of Iowa. The university maintains a website—sexualharassment.uiowa.edu—that defines sexual harassment in a way that violates its students’ First Amendment rights. According to the website, sexual harassment “occurs when somebody says or does something sexually related that you don’t want them to say or do, regardless of who it is.” Examples of such behavior include “[t]elling sexual jokes” and “[t]alking about their sexual experiences.” This is an extremely broad definition that includes a lot of constitutionally protected speech.
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Speech Code of the Month: McNeese State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for July 2007: McNeese State University. This public university in Louisiana maintains a set of “Public Forum Regulations” that quarantine free speech to just two areas of campus and place onerous restrictions on the use of those areas. In addition, the regulations restrict where students can speak; how frequently they can speak; how long they can speak; and at what times of the day and week they can speak. Finally, they require students to give at least 3 days advance notice in order to speak. There is simply no justification for a public university to place such burdensome restrictions on its students’ constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and assembly. Not only would this policy not hold up in a court of law, but it is also a moral outrage.
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Speech Code of the Month: Le Moyne College
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for June 2007: Le Moyne College in New York. Despite prominently placed commitments to free speech and academic freedom, the school maintains a policy threatening students with dismissal for making “Stigmatizing or disparaging statements related to race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious preference, age or people with disabilities.” This policy seriously threatens campus discourse by allowing Le Moyne to expel students for expressing any number of controversial opinions. Considering the chilling effect this policy has on robust debate on Le Moyne’s campus and the school’s past record—including the 2005 dismissal of student Scott McConnell for expressing controversial views, which was later overruled by a New York appeals court—FIRE is asking that the school immediately revise this policy.
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Speech Code of the Month: Texas A&M University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for May 2007: Texas A&M University. Texas A&M’s policy on Student Rights and Obligations prohibits students from violating the “rights” of “respect for personal feelings” and “freedom from indignity of any type.” This unconstitutional policy literally prohibits hurting someone’s feelings at Texas A&M University. Legally speaking, this policy is not worth the paper on which it is written. It is overbroad, it is vague, and it conditions the permissibility of speech on subjective listener reaction. Time and time again, courts have held that these types of regulations are unconstitutional. Beyond that, it is an entirely inappropriate policy for a major state university that, in its own words, “depends upon an uninhibited search for truth and its open expression.” Texas A&M is the sixth largest university in the country in terms of enrollment, with over 46,000 enrolled students living under this repressive and unconstitutional policy. FIRE urges Texas A&M to revise this policy immediately.
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Speech Code of the Month: Florida Gulf Coast University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for April 2007: Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). FGCU's “Personal Abuse” policy prohibits “lewd, indecent, racist, prejudice [sic], obscene, or expressions deemed inappropriate.” This policy prohibits broad categories of constitutionally protected speech, which public universities like FGCU are legally obligated to protect. Moreover, the policy is so broad that it gives an impermissible amount of discretion to the university to decide what constitutes a violation (for example, what exactly is “inappropriate” expression?). FGCU should repeal this repressive and unconstitutional policy immediately.
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Speech Code of the Month: Western Michigan University
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FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for March 2007: Western Michigan University (WMU). WMU’s Policy on Sexual Harassment and Sexism actually bans “sexism,” which it defines as “the perception and treatment of any person, not as an individual, but as a member of a category based on sex.” The policy goes on to state that sexism, “[w]hether expressed in overt or subtle form such as sex-related jokes or materials,” will not “be tolerated at Western Michigan University.” WMU cannot lawfully regulate its students “perceptions.” Nor can it lawfully prevent its students from making “sex-related jokes” or any other supposedly sexist remarks, unless students’ speech falls into one of the very narrow categories of speech unprotected by the First Amendment. WMU should repeal this intrusive and unconstitutional policy immediately.
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Speech Code of the Month: Northeastern University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for February 2007: Northeastern University in Boston. Northeastern’s Appropriate Use of Computer and Network Resources Policy prohibits students from using Northeastern’s information systems or facilities to send any message that “in the sole judgment of the University” is “intolerant” or “offensive.” It is disturbing that Northeastern—which promises its students the right “to express their views” —maintains a policy that is almost certain to discourage debate on controversial issues. This policy forces students to guess at what the university might punish; in all likelihood, the result is that students will refrain from a great deal of important, protected, but controversial speech in an effort to steer clear of this exceptionally vague policy.
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Speech Code of the Month: Fayetteville State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for January 2007: Fayetteville State University. Fayetteville State's racial harassment policy is identical to a policy that was explicitly declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 1989. If challenged in court, Fayetteville State's policy would almost certainly meet with the same fate.
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Speech Codes of the Year: 2006
Speech Code of the Month: Johns Hopkins University
Speech Code of the Month: University of Maine – Presque Isle
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for November 2006: University of Maine – Presque Isle (UMPI). UMPI's Residence Hall Guide contains a harassment policy that states: “Even if the harassment is unintentional (e.g., an off-hand comment or joke) it still occurs and will not be tolerated.” As a public university, UMPI cannot prohibit speech that is protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has defined what schools may legitimately prohibit as harassment: conduct “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.” By definition, then, an unintentional, off-hand comment or joke cannot be harassment, making this policy legally untenable.
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Speech Code of the Month: University of Mississippi
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for October 2006: University of Mississippi. The University of Mississippi’s General Telephone Policy provides that, on calls made to and from campus telephones, “offensive language is not to be used.” As a state-run university, Ole Miss is legally obligated to uphold the free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution to its students and faculty. This policy—which is so preposterously broad that students and faculty must necessarily censor themselves in order to comply—directly violates those rights.
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Speech Code of the Month: Drexel University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for September 2006:
Drexel
University. Drexel's harassment policy, which bans “inconsiderate jokes” and “inappropriately directed laughter,” is a resurrection of an old
University of
Connecticut speech code that epitomizes the excesses of political correctness. At Drexel, not only won’t they let you tell certain types of jokes, they will even punish you for finding them funny. This is Orwellian thought policing at its worst, and if Drexel cares about the free speech rights of its students and faculty, it should revoke this policy.
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Speech Code of the Month: Colorado State University
- FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for August 2006: Colorado State University. Colorado State's Residence Hall Handbook prohibits "expressions of hostility against a person or property because of a person's race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, ability, age, gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation." This policy is a clear violation of students' First Amendment rights, which Colorado State—a public university—is legally obligated to uphold.
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Speech Code of the Month: Macalester College
- Macalester College’s Student Handbook promises Macalester students the rights to “free expression” and “free inquiry,” and provides that “[s]tudents and student organizations are free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly and privately.” Several pages later, however, that same Handbook prohibits “speech acts which are intended to insult or stigmatize an individual or group of individuals on the basis of their race or color, or speech that makes use of inappropriate words or non-verbals.” This policy is a clear violation of Macalester students’ rights to free expression and free inquiry, rights promised in a Student Handbook that explicitly establishes a contractual relationship between the college and its students.
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Speech Code of the Month: Coast Community College District
- The Coast Community College District consists of three California community colleges with a total enrollment of more than 60,000 students: Coastline Community College, Golden West College, and Orange Coast College. The District maintains a Student Code of Conduct—applicable to students at all three colleges—that is a laundry list of First Amendment violations.
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Speech Code of the Month: University of Miami
- The University of Miami’s “Harassment or Harm to Others” policy appears to prohibit almost anything that (even unintentionally) hurts anyone’s feelings. It is sad that the university treats its college students—mostly adults—as little children whose feelings need to be protected at the expense of others’ free speech rights. College is supposed to be a place where you step outside of your comfort zone, not a place where you can be punished for expressing controversial opinions simply because they make someone uncomfortable.
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Speech Code of the Month: Barnard College
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Barnard College’s Posting Policy deserves special recognition because it accomplishes the unique feat of violating itself. The speech code prohibits any of George Carlin’s famous “Seven Dirty Words” from appearing on any posted information at Barnard. The actual policy lists each of those words; therefore, posting a copy of the Policy anywhere on Barnard’s campus would itself be a violation of the Policy! Although Barnard is a private institution, it advertises itself as a place where students “are encouraged to openly express their views and opinions.” Sometimes, however, people express strong opinions in strong terms. If Barnard is truly the center of higher learning that it claims to be, it shouldn’t be afraid of a few dirty words.
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Speech Code of the Month: Davidson College
- Davidson College’s Sexual Harassment Policy prohibits the use of “patronizing remarks” such as “referring to an adult as ‘girl,’ ‘boy,’ ‘hunk,’ ‘doll,’ ‘honey,’” or “sweetie” and further prohibits “comments or inquiries about dating.” This policy explicitly bans so much speech and expression that students must watch everything they say or do to make sure they do not run afoul of it. That results in an unacceptable “chilling effect” on speech.
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Speech Code of the Month: Jacksonville State University
- Jacksonville State University in Alabama maintains one of the most illegally overbroad—not to mention simply inane—speech codes that we have ever seen. The student code of conduct provides that “No student shall threaten, offend, or degrade anyone on University owned or operated property.” The only way for students to ensure they are in compliance with this policy is to remain in complete silence. The university is treading on very thin ice with this flagrantly unconstitutional policy.
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Speech Code of the Month: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
- The Student Handbook at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, a public institution bound by the First Amendment, contains a Picketing Policy that is both absurd and unconstitutional. The policy could easily be used to suppress almost any student demonstration.
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Speech Code of the Month: Stevens Institute of Technology
- Although the Stevens Institute of Technology is a private institution, it promises its students “[t]he constitutional rights of freedom of expression and assembly” and “the right of freedom to hear and participate in dialogue and to examine diverse views and ideas.” Unfortunately, Stevens maintains a sexual harassment policy that strips students of the very rights it promises.
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Speech Code of the Month: Lincoln University
- Lincoln University defines sexual harassment as “unwelcome and unsolicited sexual advances, request for sexual favors or other verbal, visual or physical conduct or communication with sexual overtones that the victim deems offensive” (emphasis added). This policy shamelessly violates clearly established Supreme Court precedent regarding harassment.
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Speech Code of the Month: Northern Arizona University
- Northern Arizona University, a public institution, maintains a Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy that not only explicitly prohibits constitutionally protected speech, but also contains a gross misstatement of the law.
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Speech Code of the Month: University of Nevada at Reno
- The University of Nevada at Reno is a public institution, legally bound to uphold the constitutional rights of its students. Yet the university maintains a blatantly unconstitutional speech code for its residence halls, prohibiting, among other things, “offensive language.”
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Speech Code of the Month: Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
- As a public institution, the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey is legally bound by the U.S. Constitution. Its anti-harassment policy, however, infringes upon protected speech and is particularly outrageous because it explicitly infringes upon the free exchange of ideas in the classroom.
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Speech Code of the Month: Albertson College of Idaho
- The Albertson College Student Handbook’s harassment policy states that “[a]ny comments or conduct relating to a person’s race, gender, religion, disability, age or ethnic background that fail to respect the dignity and feelings of the individual are unacceptable.” The Handbook also provides that “[a]ll inappropriate behaviors may not be specifically covered in the misconduct definitions, and students will be held accountable for behaviors considered inconsistent with the standards and expectations described in this handbook.” These provisions are wholly inconsistent with freedom.
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Speech Code of the Month: Rhodes College
- The Rhodes College Policy on Discrimination and Harassment states that “[f]reedom of expression does not include the right to intentionally and maliciously aggravate, intimidate, ridicule or humiliate another person.” Few colleges and universities are bold enough to make an explicit statement about free expression that directly contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Parody and satire—which often intentionally and maliciously ridicule and humiliate their targets—enjoy the strongest constitutional protection.
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