School Spotlight

Emory University

Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Type: Private
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Speech Code Rating

Emory University 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

Due Process Rating

Non-Sexual Misconduct

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D

Sexual Misconduct

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D

  • University Policies are Password Protected

    Speech Code Rating: Red
    Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes
    Last updated: November 14, 2019

    Emory has migrated its university-wide policies to a new management platform. As was the case with the old policies website, all university-wide policies are maintained in a single location. The only difference is that you must log into the new platform using your Emory username and password. Click below to access t... 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

Non-Sexual Misconduct

D
8/20
  • Presumption of innocence
  • Adequate and timely notice
  • Adequate time to prepare
  • Conflicts of interest prohibited
  • Right to challenge fact-finders
  • Access to all evidence
  • Right to face accuser and witness
  • Active participation of counsel
  • Meaningful right to appeal
  • Expulsion must be unanimous

Sexual Misconduct

D
8/20
  • Presumption of innocence
  • Adequate and timely notice
  • Adequate time to prepare
  • Conflicts of interest prohibited
  • Right to challenge fact-finders
  • Access to all evidence
  • Right to face accuser and witness
  • Active participation of counsel
  • Meaningful right to appeal
  • Expulsion must be unanimous

  • 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