Demonstrations and Rallies: Johns Hopkins University’s Commitment to the Protection of, and the Right to, Freedom of Expression

Relevant Excerpt

Johns Hopkins University seeks to uphold and protect the right of free expression and presents these guidelines to aid students seeking to engage acts of free expression at the Homewood Campus. Freedom of Expression is an umbrella term that covers a host of ways to convey feelings, thoughts, opinions, and beliefs on a variety of issues. Acts serving as freedom of expression include, but are not limited to:

Academic Freedom
Protest – an action and formal objections against a cause or concern.
Demonstration – an action to stand for a cause or concern.
Civil Disobedience – a willful act to disobey a policy/rule/law in protest

It is our commitment to academic freedom as a fundamental value of the university, articulated in our Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom. Academic freedom depends on free expression and requires a commitment to maintaining a climate that fuels the discovery and dissemination of ideas through speech, reason, and debate. It is that commitment to academic freedom, articulated below, that undergirds our belief in the right to freedom of expression and the creation of these guidelines.

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Students interested in organizing or engaging in protests, demonstrations or other acts of free expression may, but are not required to, seek support from the Offices of the Provost, Student Life, Leadership Engagement & Experiential Development, and Public Safety. Advance notice is not intended as a precursor to restraint of speech, but as an opportunity to ensure an event is successful.

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Protests, demonstrations, and other acts of public expression generally will be permitted and supported until or unless members of the Provost’s Office, including the Vice Provost for Student Affairs, determine that the rights of others have been significantly infringed and/or determine – in consultation with Public Safety, as needed – that there is a threat to the safety or welfare of those in attendance. Material interference with the rights of others to engage in instruction and research will be viewed as inhibiting the academic freedom of others and disruptive to the core educational mission of the university.