University of North Carolina System: State of the First Amendment

January 10, 2006

FIRE teamed up with the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy to release the Report on the State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System. The Report notes that UNC System’s many speech codes and illiberal restrictions on religious groups would likely not survive a legal challenge. It also reveals that “13 out of the 16 schools in the UNC System have at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”

Sexual Harassment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 11, 2016

“Hostile environment” does not explicitly or implicitly condition a decision or benefit on submission to sexual conduct. This type of sexual harassment involves conduct that is sufficiently serious enough to interfere with an individual’s work, academic performance, or social living. Speech or conduct of a sexual or hostile nature that occurs in the context of educational instruction may constitute prohibited sexual harassment if it meets the definition of sexual harassment noted above and (1) is reasonably regarded as non-professional speech (i.e., advances a personal interest of the faculty member as opposed to furthering the learning process or legitimate objectives of the course) or (2) lacks accepted pedagogical purpose or is not related to the academic subject matter.

…

Sexual harassment may be coercive, unwelcome behavior, from subtle psychological force to gross physical abuse. Visual acts (such as leering and physical gestures conveying a sexual meaning), verbal actions (such as sexual innuendoes, suggestive remarks, sexually derogatory jokes), written materials (e-mail, cartoons or letters), or physical acts (such as hugging, pinching or fondling) may be considered as sexual harassment.

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Code of Student Conduct: Sexual Harassment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 11, 2016

Sexual harassment is defined as follows:

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when: … such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, academic activities or student experience, or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working, academic or student life environment.

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Use of Computer Resources

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: August 11, 2016

Unauthorized Activities: … Harassment, which includes but may not be limited to interfering with the legitimate work of another user and/or sending abusive or obscene messages.

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Guide to Residential Living: Doors, Walls, and Room Decorating

Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: August 11, 2016

The outside of the room door and the window facing outward are considered public display areas representing the character of the institution. Public display areas may be monitored to insure that inappropriate materials/messages are not visible. University administration/residence hall staff uses the policies, mission, and values of the institution to determine the appropriateness or inappropriateness of public area displays. Resident’s may be required to remove public displays deemed as inappropriate.

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Code of Student Conduct: Harassment and/or Retaliation

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 11, 2016

Harassment and/or Retaliation shall mean any act which leads to a hostile
environment including conduct that is

• directed toward a particular person or persons,
•  unwelcomed,
• based upon the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender-identity, creed, disability, veteran status, political affiliation or student organization affiliation,
• severe or pervasive, and
• so objectively offensive that it unreasonably interferes with the target person’s employment, academic pursuits, or participation in University-sponsored activities such that it effectively denies equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities.

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Free Speech Rights Must Extend to Students’ Online Expression

October 24, 2012

This fall, FIRE is writing a blog series about how schools can reform their problematic speech codes and earn a “green light” rating from FIRE—a distinction currently awarded to just 16 of the more than 400 schools in our Spotlight database but one we hope to be able to award to many more in the years to come. So far, we have discussed how universities restrict speech by mandating “civility” and by improperly broadening the definition of “harassment.” (Harassment, while not protected speech, is a term with a very specific legal meaning.) Today we tackle another common problem: restrictions on […]

Nearly Three Years Later, Significant Improvement at North Carolina’s Public Universities

September 22, 2008

In January 2006, FIRE and the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy released a Report on the State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System. The report took an in-depth look at the speech codes in force at each of the sixteen universities in the UNC System and made detailed recommendations for how those codes could be improved. At the time, 13 of the 16 schools in the system received a “red-light” rating from FIRE for maintaining policies that clearly and substantially restricted students’ right to freedom of speech. Happily, a number of the […]

Pope Center’s ‘Clarion Call’ Highlights FIRE Speech Code of the Month Victory

November 9, 2007

This week’s Clarion Call, the weekly column of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, highlights FIRE’s speech code victory at Fayetteville State University. Fayetteville State’s Code of Student Conduct was picked as FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month for January 2007. It defined racial harassment as: [V]erbal or physical behavior that stigmatizes or victimizes an individual on the basis of race and involves an express or implied threat to another person’s academic pursuits or participation in activities sponsored by the University or organizations or groups related to the University. It was identical to a University of Michigan […]

Speech Code of the Month: Fayetteville State University

January 2, 2007

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for January 2007: Fayetteville State University. Denying your students their First Amendment rights takes a lot of nerve. But for a public university to maintain—word for word—a policy that has explicitly been declared unconstitutional by a federal court takes chutzpah to a whole new level. That’s why Fayetteville State University in North Carolina is 2007’s first Speech Code of the Month. Fayetteville State’s Code of Student Conduct prohibits racial harassment, defined as: [V]erbal or physical behavior that stigmatizes or victimizes an individual on the basis of race and involves an express or […]