California State University, Fullerton: Unconstitutional Investigation and Punishment of Sorority Over ‘Inappropriate’ Theme Party

September 29, 2014

Alpha Delta Pi was punished for a “Taco Tuesday”-themed recruitment event.

California: Unconstitutional Discriminatory Harassment Policies

August 1, 2009

Standards for Student Conduct

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: May 17, 2016

Use of computing facilities and resources to send obscene or intimidating and abusive messages.

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Student Handbook: UNIVERSITY POLICY REGARDING PERFORMANCES, RALLIES, OR SIMILAR PUBLIC EVENTS ON CAMPUS

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: May 17, 2016

Space for any meeting, rally or other public event held in an exterior location must be scheduled through the Dean of Students Office or, in the case of physical education, athletics and recreation facilities, through the campus Sports Complex and in accordance with policies and procedures governing use of those facilities.

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Executive Order 1097: Systemwide Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation, Sexual Misconduct, Dating and Domestic Violence, and Stalking against Students and Systemwide Procedure for Addressing Such Complaints by Students

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: May 17, 2016

Sexual Harassment, a form of Sex Discrimination, is unwelcome verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that includes, but is not limited to Sexual Violence, sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and indecent exposure where:

a. Submission to, or rejection of, the conduct is explicitly or implicitly used as the basis for any decision affecting a Student’s academic status or progress, or access to benefits and services, honors, programs, or activities available at or through the University; or

b. Such conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that its effect, whether or not intended, could be considered by a reasonable person in the shoes of the Student, and is in fact considered by the Student, as limiting the Student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities or opportunities offered by the University; or

c. Such conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that its effect, whether or not intended, could be considered by a reasonable person in the shoes of the Student, and is in fact considered by the Student, as intimidating, hostile or offensive.

Sexual Harassment also includes acts of verbal, non-verbal or physical aggression, intimidation or hostility based on gender or sex-stereotyping, even if those acts do not involve conduct of a sexual nature.

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Standards for Student Conduct

Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: May 17, 2016

Students are expected to be good citizens and to engage in responsible behaviors that reflect well upon their university, to be civil to one another and to others in the campus community, and to contribute positively to student and university life.

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Student Handbook: Student Rights and Responsibilities

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: May 17, 2016

Academic institutions exist for the transmission of knowledge, the pursuit of truth, the intellectual growth of their members, and the general well-being of society. Free inquiry and free expression are indispensable to the attainment of these goals.

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Students have the right of freedom of speech and assembly.

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Cal State System Bans Campus Groups From Having ‘Belief’ Requirements

March 6, 2015

By Steven Greenhut at Reason Online In Charles Dickens‘ “Oliver Twist,” a judge tells the henpecked Mr. Bumble the law assumes that his wife is under his control. “If the law supposes that,” he replied, “the law is a(n) ass — a(n) idiot.”Mr. Bumble’s retort popularized the “law is an ass” phrase, which still is widely used whenever a law defies common sense. It’s hard to find a better example than a rule from the California State University system. Starting last summer, it requires “open membership” for on-campus student groups. Atheists must admit born-again Christians as members and leaders. Democrats must accept Republicans. At one point, honor societies […]

Top 10 Worst Offenders of Free Speech on College Campuses

March 6, 2015

By Napp Nazworth at The Christian Post The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released its list of the top 10 worst offenders of free speech on college campuses in 2014. The top 10, in alphabetical order, are: Brandeis University, California State University-Fullerton, Chicago State University, Georgetown University, Kansas Board of Regents, Marquette University, Modesto Junior College, U.S. Department’s of Education and Justice, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of Iowa. FIRE, founded in 1999, advocates for individual rights at American colleges and universities. It was founded by University of Pennsylvania professor Alan Charles Kors and civil liberties attorney […]

Cal State Fullerton Named One of America’s Most 1st Amendment-Hating Schools

March 4, 2015

By Gabriel San Roman at OC Weekly The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) gave Cal State Fullerton a failing grade for free speech in 2014. The libertarian-leaning group dinged the college in itsannual list of top ten First Amendment offenders nationwide. Why? The dean of students handed out weak-salsa sanctions for a Mexi-mocking Taco Tuesday sorority event last year. The unconstitutional horror! “It’s hard to imagine a more bewildering and petty example of censorship,” wrote FIRE President Greg Lukianoff in a HuffPo piece, “than that which California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) demonstrated last year in dispensing with the […]

Student Speech Is Worthless For These Schools On Annual ‘Worst’ List

March 4, 2015

By Courtney Such at The College Fix Colleges last year yanked speaking invitations from global luminaries, censored faculty and student speech and even took down art displays, all in the name of not offending people. The worst of the worst got named and shamed in the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’sannual list of the most unfriendly schools for speech, released this week. It also includes two institutions that aren’t colleges – the Kansas Board of Regents and the U.S. Department of Education. The others are Brandeis University, California State University-Fullerton, Chicago State University, Georgetown University, University of Illinois at […]

CSUF Makes List For ’10 Worst Colleges For Free Speech’

March 3, 2015

By Lou Ponsi at Orange County Register Sanctions imposed on a Cal State Fullerton sorority that hosted a recruitment event in which some members showed up in gang attire or sarapes and sombreros have landed the university on a list of the “10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech in 2014.” The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia nonprofit that advocates for First Amendment rights on college campuses, released the list this week. Listed in no particular order, the top 10 list includes educational institutions that the foundation says wrongly censured or punished students and/or faculty for expressing free […]

Free Speech on Campus: The 10 Worst Offenders of 2014

March 2, 2015

By Greg Lukianoff at The Huffington Post College is the place where students should be encouraged to, as Yale promises, “think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable.” Unfortunately, schools all across the country not only fall short on promises of free expression and academic freedom but openly suppress constitutionally protected speech on campus by using tools such as speech codes to shut down forms of expression that might be uncomfortable, disagreeable, or even offensive to some members of the campus community. To give a clearer picture of campus censorship, we at the Foundation for Individual Rights in […]

Bill Targets CSU’s ‘Believe It Or Not’ Edict

February 27, 2015

By Steve Greenhut at U-T San Diego SACRAMENTO — In Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” a judge tells the henpecked Mr. Bumble the law assumes that his wife is under his control. “If the law supposes that,” he replied, “the law is a(n) ass — a(n) idiot.” Mr. Bumble’s retort popularized the “law is an ass” phrase, which still is widely used whenever a law defies common sense. It’s hard to find a better example than a rule from the California State University system. Starting last summer, it requires “open membership” for on-campus student groups. Atheists must admit born-again Christians as […]

First Amendment The Real Victim In ‘Taco Tuesday’ Sorority Flap

October 8, 2014

By Peter Bonilla at The Daily Caller Anyone who’s watched Animal House knows that theme parties on college campuses aren’t a new thing. Newer, however, is the trend of condemning any such parties that carry the faintest whiff of cultural insensitivity or stereotyping and seeking punishment for their organizers. Often lost amidst the clamor for punishment is the plain fact that the expression conveyed by these types of parties is thoroughly protected under the First Amendment. The Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi) sorority at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) in northern Orange County is merely the latest victim of this complex. […]

Some colleges need to take free-speech classes, according to survey

December 21, 2012

The Watchdog Blog Many of America’s colleges appear to need to take a few courses in free speech. More than 60 percent of the 400-plus colleges and universities studied by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education have policies that restrict students’ First Amendment rights. In a report released this week, FIRE also raised concern over federal and state regulations governing bullying and harassment that the report labeled sloppily written and implemented. To be fair, FIRE acknowledged that the number of schools with “red light” free-speech codes has declined for the fifth straight year. And more schools eliminated their restrictive speech policies in 2012, earning […]

FIRE Announces 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech in 2014

March 2, 2015

PHILADELPHIA, March 2, 2015—More than half of America’s top colleges maintain speech codes that blatantly violate First Amendment standards. But every year the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) takes a closer look at the previous year’s incidents of college censorship to determine the nation’s 10 worst abusers of student and faculty free speech rights. This year’s list of the 10 worst colleges for free speech—published with detailed descriptions at The Huffington Post—includes many public colleges or universities bound by the First Amendment. Some of them, on the other hand, are private colleges that, though not required by the […]

FIRE’s Shibley on the ‘Offendedness Sweepstakes’ This Halloween Season

October 30, 2014

It’s almost Halloween, and that means that college students across the country are waging war against costumes that they deem culturally insensitive or otherwise offensive. In an article for The Daily Caller today, FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley takes a look at some of the party themes that have been landing college and university students in trouble lately. Robert leads with a jaw-dropping example: Northwestern University students are under fire for holding a “Jail N’ Bail”-themed literacy fundraiser with no apparent racial content because it “belittled” the problems faced by racial minorities and the poor. It’s one thing for […]

‘Taco Tuesday’ Event Earns Sorority Seven Conduct Violations

October 9, 2014

A few weeks ago, FIRE wrote to California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) to urge administrators to rescind sanctions for seven charges against the Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi) sorority based on a “Taco Tuesday”-themed event at which some members wore stereotypically Mexican clothing items. Peter Bonilla, director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program, has the story over at The Daily Caller—and yeah, it’s really as loco as it sounds. ADPi was investigated after word of the party’s alleged offensiveness reached the CSUF administration. FIRE explained in our letter how none of the seven charges has even the slightest merit. A public […]