Speech Code of the Month: Southwest Minnesota State University

By Samantha Harris on November 9, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for November 2015: Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU).

SMSU’s Prohibited Code of Conduct for students bans “cultural intolerance,” defined as follows:

Any verbal or physical contact directed at an individual or group such as racial slurs, jokes, or other behaviors that demean or belittle a person’s race, color, gender preference, national origin, culture, history or disability, is prohibited. [Emphasis added.]

Speech Code of the Month: University of Denver

By Samantha Harris on October 12, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for October 2015: University of Denver (DU).

UCSB gate university of santa barbara feat

Speech Code of the Month: University of California, Santa Barbara

By Samantha Harris on September 15, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for September 2015: the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Speech Code of the Month: Boston University

By Samantha Harris on August 12, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for August 2015: Boston University (BU).

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Category: Speech Code of the Month Schools: Boston University

Speech Code of the Month: Florida State University

By Samantha Harris on July 10, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for July 2015: Florida State University (FSU).

FSU’s Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Statement provides that “[b]ehavior that may be considered offensive, demeaning, or degrading to persons or groups will not be tolerated.” This language is so broad that you could drive a truck through it, leaving the university with unfettered discretion to punish virtually any speech or expression it finds undesirable. Seeming to realize just that, the policy explicitly makes the university’s complaint procedures “available to all who believe their experience on any of our campuses has been less than appropriate.”

Speech Code of the Month: California University of Pennsylvania

By Samantha Harris on June 9, 2015

This extraordinarily broad policy leaves faculty and students at risk of punishment—up to and including “dismissal from the University”—for sending virtually any message the content of which offends another person.

Speech Code of the Month: Lake Superior State University

By Samantha Harris on May 11, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for May 2015: Lake Superior State University (LSSU) in Michigan.

LSSU’s Posting Policy, found in the Student Handbook, requires that all postings be approved by the university’s Campus Life Office and provides that “[p]ostings deemed offensive, sexist, vulgar, discriminatory or suggestive will not be approved.” The potential sanctions for violating the policy include not only removal of one’s flyers, but also “disciplinary sanctioning of the individual(s) involved.”

Speech Code of the Month: Florida A&M University

By Samantha Harris on April 14, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for April 2015: Florida A&M University (FAMU).

According to FAMU’s Student Code of Conduct, “disorderly conduct” includes not only things like public drunkenness, but also the “use of profanity in public” and the use of “insulting” language. This policy is a clear violation of FAMU students’ First Amendment rights.

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Category: Speech Code of the Month Schools: Florida A&M University

Speech Code of the Month: Marquette University

By Samantha Harris on March 9, 2015

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for March 2015: Marquette University.

If you’ve been following higher ed news or reading The Torch recently, you are probably aware that Marquette University is no friend of free speech. In fact, FIRE recently named Marquette one of the ten worst abusers of free speech for its “chilling campaign to revoke the tenure of political science professor John McAdams due to writings on his private blog.”

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Category: Speech Code of the Month Schools: Marquette University