School Spotlight
Emory University
Location:
Atlanta, Georgia
Type:
Private
Speech Code Rating
Emory University has been given the speech code rating Green. Green light institutions are those colleges and universities whose policies nominally protect free speech.
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Policy 8.14 Respect for Open Expression Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: February 28, 2020[T]he foundations of this Policy are grounded in the principles of the entire campus being open and available to members to build community through Expression, Protest, and Dissent. As such, all spaces, both indoors and outdoors, are available to support both planned and impromptu Expression, Protest, and Dissent ex... Read MorePolicy 8.1: Undergraduate Code of Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: February 28, 2020Although it is neither possible nor necessary to specify every instance of misconduct that could result in disciplinary action against a student, the following are examples of the types of behavior that are considered violations of this Code. … Misuse of computer or network resources, including but not limited... Read MorePolicy 1.3 Equal Opportunity and Discriminatory Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: February 28, 2020Sexual harassment includes unwelcome conduct, based on sex or gender stereotypes, when … Such conduct is so severe and/or pervasive it has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a person’s university employment, academic performance or participation in university programs or activities, or crea... Read MorePolicy 5.1 Information Technology Conditions of Use
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: February 28, 2020Users of Emory’s IT resources may not use those resources for any unethical or illegal purpose, including but not limited to the following: … Harassing other members of the Emory community; … Viewing or distributing content, to the extent that doing do violates any applicable Emory policy and/or state an... Read MorePolicy 1.3 Equal Opportunity and Discriminatory Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: February 28, 2020Emory University is an inquiry-driven, ethically engaged, and diverse community dedicated to the ideals of free academic discourse in teaching, scholarship, and community service. Emory University abides by the values of academic freedom and is built on the assumption that contention among different views is positiv... Read MorePolicy 1.3 Equal Opportunity and Discriminatory Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: February 28, 2020Emory’s policy prohibits discriminatory harassment of a non-sexual nature, which includes verbal, physical, or graphic conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, genetic information, age, disability, s... Read More
Policies are rated on their inclusion of 10 due process safeguards. Each policy may receive 2 points for fully including that safeguard, 1 point for partial inclusion, and 0 points for no meaningful inclusion. Most, but not all, institutions have separate policies for sexual misconduct and all other misconduct. See FIRE’s Spotlight on Due Process report for more information.
Grades
Emory University School of Law: Law Professor Suspended, Faces Termination for Use of Racial Epithet In Class and Conversation with Student
September 3, 2019
During an August 2018 torts class, Professor Paul Zwier named a racial slur when discussing the first of two cases involving racial discrimination. After student complaints, Zwier was barred from teaching first-year law classes for two years. When a black student approached Zwier during office hours to discuss the controversy, Zwier told an anecdote in… Read more
Emory prof’s reinstatement a bittersweet victory after year-long ‘N-word’ investigation
March 11, 2020
Tenured law professor Paul Zwier’s return to teaching at Emory University — after more than a year facing termination for using the word “nigger” while discussing systemic racism with students — feels quite unlike an academic freedom victory, even though it is. Instead, Zwier’s reinstatement reads more like a cautionary tale about the eroding rights… Read more
FIRE’s speech code ratings are just that — speech code ratings
September 13, 2019
From time to time, FIRE gets questions about the manner in which we assign our speech code ratings to colleges and universities. These ratings, after all, are central to our Spotlight Database, which compiles information about student speech policies at more than 450 institutions, public and private, and is relied upon by many to gauge… Read more
Emory Law Professor faces termination hearing for using ‘n-word’ in discussion of civil rights case, discussion with student
August 30, 2019
Last September, we covered the suspension of Paul Zwier, a white professor at Emory University School of Law, after he used the word “nigger” while discussing the facts of a civil rights case. After Zwier subsequently told a student, who had come to his office to discuss the controversy, that Zwier had been called a… Read more
Compassion in the face of conflict: An open discussion at Emory University
June 24, 2019
In early April of this year, the Emory Students for Justice in Palestine held its Israeli Apartheid Week on Cox Bridge, the central thoroughfare of our campus. Tabling right across from them for Israel Week were the Emory Eagles for Israel. As I glanced over one poster condemning Israeli occupation of the West Bank and… Read more
Emory University’s resolution agreement with law professor threatens academic freedom
September 20, 2018
Earlier this year, Harvard Law School Professor Randall Kennedy told me that about once a year, he finds himself “writing a letter to some place in defense of a teacher who has been dismissed for Xeroxing part of my book.” His book? “nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.” The offending content? The word… Read more
Emory University earns FIRE’s highest rating for free speech
December 5, 2017
ATLANTA, Dec. 5, 2017 — Emory University has removed language from its policies that chilled free expression on campus, earning it the highest, “green light” rating for free speech on campus from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. After working to ensure that the policies across all of its departments reflect the university’s commitment… Read more
‘So to Speak’ Podcast: Denying the Holocaust
November 17, 2016
In 1996, Emory University professor Deborah Lipstadt found herself in a peculiar situation: She and a team of lawyers would have to defend the truth about the Holocaust against British historian and famed Holocaust denier David Irving. It was a quirk of the English legal system that allowed the battle to play out in court…. Read more
Speech Code Countdown: Most of America’s ‘Best Colleges’ Restrict Speech
October 5, 2016
U.S. News & World Report recently released its annual rankings of the “Best Colleges” for 2017. The rankings are based on a multitude of “indicators of academic excellence” that prospective students use to narrow down their college application lists, including graduation and retention rate, financial resources, the institution’s reputation, and student selectivity. But U.S. News’… Read more
Emory Committee Releases Formal Statement on ‘Chalkening’ Controversy, Political Expression
May 11, 2016
The Emory University Senate’s Standing Committee for Open Expression has seen the writing on the wall. Or, more specifically, on the sidewalk. The university-affiliated committee tasked with interpreting Emory’s Open Expression Policy released a comprehensive 12-page statement this week urging increased free speech protections at Emory in the wake of this semester’s controversy over pro-Donald… Read more
Emory President Chalks Pro-Speech Message After Trump Controversy as Students, Alumni Urge More Action (VIDEO)
March 30, 2016
Emory University President James Wagner has expressed his support of free speech —in chalk— following the controversy over chalk messages written on campus last week in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. President Wagner’s supportive message comes after students from Emory’s Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter and a separate, non-partisan coalition of Emory… Read more
So About Free Speech at Emory…
March 23, 2016
Just yesterday, we reported that the Emory University Senate Standing Committee for Open Expression had issued a statement strongly supporting free speech on campus. But just over the past 24 hours comes news of Emory’s apparent implosion over the appearance of “Trump 2016” chalkings on campus. Most notable, from FIRE’s perspective, is this suggestion from… Read more
Good News for Free Speech at Emory University
March 22, 2016
Last week, The Volokh Conspiracy reported that the Emory University Senate Standing Committee for Open Expression released an opinion strongly supporting free speech on campus. The opinion responds to two separate acts of vandalism within 48 hours last February targeting a wall display posted by Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP). The vandals apparently… Read more
Emory Students Demand Course Evaluations Include Rating for Microaggressions
December 11, 2015
College course evaluations, while valuable, do not always give a precise measure of the competence of a professor. Students, who have been judged all semester by professors, have an opportunity to pass judgment themselves. Some of them take the task seriously and offer constructive comments. For others, it’s payback time. This is a process with… Read more
Not Everyone at Emory Got Salman Rushdie’s Important Message About Free Speech
February 26, 2015
Acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie spoke to students at Emory University last week about what it means to defend freedom of speech and why students must vigilantly do so. Though his plea was well-argued and powerful, it didn’t reach all Emory community members—particularly not whoever destroyed a display set up by student group Emory Students for… Read more
Is Emory’s Student Government Ready to Take a Stand for Free Speech?
November 21, 2011
There’s some good news on the free speech front at Emory University, where (as I wrote here last week) a proposed "free expression zone" policy had all appearances of being woefully misguided and actually quite bad for free speech at Emory. The Emory Wheel expressed worry about the implications of such a zone as well. Now,… Read more
Emory Students Speak out Against Proposed ‘Free Expression Zone’ Policy
November 11, 2011
On Wednesday I gave Emory University a shellacking over a proposed "free expression zone" policy, which was hailed in The Emory Wheel as a step forward by Emory’s student government president and a number of Emory administrators. As I wrote, the fact that such initiatives on supposedly free liberal arts campuses are so positively received does far… Read more
At Emory, Understanding of Free Speech so Bad it Makes a ‘Free Speech Zone’ Sound Good
November 9, 2011
You know standards for free speech on campus have fallen pretty far when a plan to establish a "free speech zone" policy seems like progress and not regression. Just such a move—a joint effort between students and administrators—is underway at Emory University, The Emory Wheel student newspaper reports. The Wheel‘s article merits quoting at length because… Read more
Emory Professor Allowed to Say He’s an Emory Professor on Private Blog
July 14, 2009
Steadily growing scrutiny from the higher education media and organizations including FIRE has caused Emory University to backtrack on its previous demand that Professor J. Douglas Bremner remove the name of the university—including the fact that he is an Emory professor—from his private blog. Bremner, a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory’s School of… Read more
The State of Free Speech on Campus: Emory University
March 2, 2009
Throughout the spring semester, FIRE is drawing special attention to the state of free speech at America’s top 25 national universities (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report). Today we review policies at Emory University, which FIRE has given a red-light rating for restricting free expression on campus. We start by examining whether Emory—a… Read more
Free Speech under Attack during Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week
October 25, 2007
This week, as the Terrorism Awareness Project provides speakers at college campuses in order to increase awareness about terrorism of the Muslim extremist variety, the predictable has come to pass: speakers have been prevented by protesters from enjoying their freedom of speech. At Emory University, David Horowitz’s lecture ended prematurely when audience members refused to… Read more
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