Guidelines for Students in Support of Free Expression Through Protests and Demonstrations

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 in protests, demonstrations, vigils, displays, or other acts of public expression.

These guidelines emerge from 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.

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The university strives to actively support and promote acts of public expression on campus.

Students interested in organizing or engaging in protests, demonstrations, or other acts of public expression may, but are not required to, seek support from Leadership Engagement & Experiential Development (LEED) or the appropriate school-based student affairs office, and Public Safety. Advance notice is not intended as a precursor to restraint of speech but rather as an opportunity to ensure that an event is fully supported by university resources and in alignment with university policies and guidelines.

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Protests, demonstrations, and other acts of public expression generally will be permitted and supported until or unless the university determines that the activity is in violation of university policy, that the rights of others have been significantly infringed, and/or that there is a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of others, including those in attendance. Material interference with the rights of others to engage in instruction, research, studying, or taking exams will be viewed as inhibiting the academic freedom of others and disruptive to the core educational mission of the university.