Connecticut College

Location: New London, Connecticut
Website: http://www.conncoll.edu
Type: Private
Federal Circuit: 2nd Circuit

Tell Connecticut College to revise its speech policies by filling out this form.

Speech Code Rating

Connecticut 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 here.

At present, FIRE has not been involved in any cases at this school.

Red Light Policies

Yellow Light Policies

  • Title IX Policy

    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: May 10, 2018

    Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual, sex-based or gender-based conduct that is verbal, written, or physical, or occurs online.

    Sexual harassment creates a hostile environment, and may be disciplined when it is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, denies or limits someone’s ability to participate in or benefit from the College’s educational program/and or activities or to perform one’s job.

    …

    If verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature takes place in the teaching/learning context, it must also be persistent, pervasive and not germane to the subject matter of a course, research or other academic endeavor to constitute sexual harassment. The academic setting is distinct from the workplace in that wide latitude is required for professional judgment in determining the pedagogically appropriate content and presentation of academic and artistic material.

    » Read More

Green Light Policies

  • Appropriate Use Policy for Computer and Information Resources

    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: May 10, 2018

    Using the College’s computers or network or the telephone system to transmit fraudulent, defamatory, harassing, obscene or threatening messages or any communications prohibited by law.

    » Read More

  • Freedom of Expression at Conn

    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: November 19, 2018

    The right of individuals and groups to express themselves freely is fundamental to democracy. It is also central to a Connecticut College education. Freedom of expression is written into our mission of educating students to “put the liberal arts into action as citizens of a global society.” Active citizenship requires intellectual and personal engagement across social, political, ideological, and religious differences. It requires a community in which people who hold different perspectives and beliefs grapple with the difficult work of listening, reflecting, gathering evidence, making arguments, and engaging in constructive, informed, and rigorous debate for the purpose of greater knowledge and understanding. Connecticut College is committed to nurturing this kind of community.

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  • Network Aims to Help Harassed Campus Conservatives

    December 26, 2005

    WASHINGTON—Though Christopher Flickinger calls himself “dean” and poses in parodistic photos waving a small American flag and looking stern, he says he’s never been more serious about eliminating what he claims is pervasive anti-conservatism on college campuses today. “When I was on campus, I had no help,” the recent Ohio State University graduate told FOXNews.com. “I was harassed, intimidated, shouted down.” Flickinger, schooled in broadcast journalism, said he wants to provide the support he never had as a lonely conservative in college. That’s why in November he launched the Network of College Conservatives to act in part as “a link […]

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  • Connecticut College Password-Protects Key Documents

    May 21, 2009

    Connecticut College—which in past years has earned a red light from FIRE for its speech codes—has password-protected two key documents, the Student Handbook and the Bias Incident Protocol. We at FIRE believe that prospective students and their parents have the right to know whether Connecticut College prohibits free speech—and whether the college even still promises free speech, since those promises were contained in earlier versions of the Student Handbook. This move is part of a disturbing trend among colleges to restrict access to these documents to those already on campus (we’ve recently seen this happen at DePaul University and Edinboro […]

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  • K. C. Johnson Strikes Again

    August 26, 2005

    The invaluable K. C. Johnson has an excellent op-ed in today’s Inside Higher Ed. K. C. does a wonderful job of collecting evidence that much of the ideological uniformity in higher education is not so much the result of “self-selection” but instead the product of an academic culture that uses ideology as a stand-in for intelligence or merit. His most interesting paragraphs relate how ideological uniformity is justified by a desire to create a particular academic orthodoxy on issues of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation According to Montclair State’s Grover Furr, “colleges and universities do not need a single […]

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