School Spotlight

Barnard College

Location: New York, New York
Type: Private
Tell Barnard College to revise its speech policies by filling out this form.

Speech Code Rating

Barnard College has been given the speech code rating Red. A red light university has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech. Read more

  • Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment of Barnard College

    Speech Code Rating: Red
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: January 15, 2020

    Harassment is any conduct, verbal, nonverbal, or physical, on or off campus, that has the effect, because of its severity and/or persistence, of unreasonably interfering with an individual or group’s educational or work performance or that creates a hostile educational, work, or living environment on the basis of a ... Read More

  • College Policies & Procedures are Password Protected

    Speech Code Rating: Red
    Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes, Posting and Distribution Policies
    Last updated: January 15, 2020

    Log in with your Barnard user name and password for access to myBarnard, gBear, and other online services. (Access to “Rules for Maintenance of Public Order” and “Posting Policy” requires a user name and password.) Read More

  • Columbia University Gender-Based Misconduct Policy and Procedures for Students

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: January 15, 2020

    Gender-based harassment can occur if a person is harassed either for exhibiting what is perceived as a stereotypical characteristic of their gender or for failing to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity, and that harassing conduct unreasonably interferes with a person’s education or particip... Read More

  • Barnard College Student Code of Conduct

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
    Last updated: January 15, 2020

    Students are required to engage in responsible social conduct that reflects credit upon the College community and to model good citizenship in any community.  Any student found to have committed or to have attempted to commit the following misconduct is subject to the disciplinary process and sanctions: … Verb... Read More

  • Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment: Academic Freedom and Employment Responsibility

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: January 15, 2020

    Under the College’s Code of Academic Freedom and Tenure “all officers of instruction and all officers of administration while giving instruction are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects and . . . they are entitled to freedom in research and in the publication of its results.” Similarly, ... Read More
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • Columbia Student Urges ‘Free-Speech Renewal’ in 2015

    December 31, 2014

    Columbia University junior Bryan Schonfeld has seen firsthand the unhealthy climate for speech on college campuses, and he describes some bewildering examples of students’ and administrators’ aversion to free expression in an article for the New York Daily News this week. Torch readers may recall that Columbia Law School was among the institutions that agreed… Read more

  • Shibley in ‘Forbes’ on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Campus Free Speech

    March 18, 2014

    A handful of recent incidents at American colleges and universities illustrate a troubling pattern of students being censored or punished for participating in the debate over Israeli-Palestinian relations. Today in ‘Forbes,’ FIRE’s Robert Shibley writes about how the longstanding conflict is part of a threat to free expression here in the United States.

  • New York City Council Considers Speech Ban

    August 9, 2007

    David Harsanyi reports on The Huffington Post that the New York City Council “may be on the verge of banning the slur ‘bitch’” as well as “the slang word ‘ho.’” (The Council would no doubt receive moral support from Barnard College, which bans any of George Carlin’s seven dirty words from appearing on any posted… Read more

  • Speech Codes of the Year: 2006

    December 29, 2006

    As Torch readers know, each month FIRE singles out a particularly egregious speech code for our Speech Code of the Month award. While all twelve Speech Codes of the Month for 2006 were both tragic and laughable, I would like to highlight a few that deserve special mention as our Speech Codes of the Year:… Read more

  • Speech Code of the Month: Barnard College

    April 4, 2006

    FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for April 2006: Barnard College. This speech code deserves special recognition because it accomplishes the unique feat of violating itself. The Barnard College Posting Policy provides that “the following words cannot appear on any posted information at Barnard—shit, piss, suck, cunt, fuck, motherfucker, cocksucker and tits.” So… Read more