School Spotlight

Fayetteville State University

Location: Fayetteville, North Carolina
Type: Public

Speech Code Rating

Fayetteville State University has been given the speech code rating Green. Green light institutions are those colleges and universities whose policies nominally protect free speech. Read more

  • Student Handbook: Title IX- Sexual Harassment

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: April 15, 2021

    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 is so sufficiently severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits,... Read More

  • Student Handbook: Bulletin Boards, Fliers & Posters

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
    Last updated: April 15, 2021

    Students may post fliers and posters on bulletin boards and other designated areas within buildings. Fliers and posters may NOT be posted on glass doors, light poles, call boxes, signs, trees, or other outdoor equipment or surfaces. Any posting in a location that is not approved will be immediately removed. Fliers s... Read More

  • Prohibited Sexual Conduct

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: April 15, 2021

    Sexual Harassment is defined as follows: … unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the University’s Education Program or Activity … Read More

  • Code of Student Conduct: Harassment

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: April 15, 2021

    Harassment (Level 1) shall mean any act which leads to a hostile environment when the conduct is as follows: • 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 s... Read More

  • Use of Computer Resources

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: April 15, 2021

    Under no circumstances shall a student, employee or other authorized user engage in any of the following activities while using University computer resources. … Harassment which shall mean any act which leads to a hostile environment that includes the following: severe, pervasive, and unwelcomed; directed tow... Read More

  • 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… Read more

  • Fayetteville State becomes 12th North Carolina institution to earn highest free speech rating

    November 25, 2019

    FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., Nov. 25, 2019 — Fayetteville State University revised its expressive policies to earn the highest free speech rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. FSU is the 12th institution in North Carolina to earn FIRE’s “green light” rating, which is held by only 51 institutions nationwide.  SEE HOW MUCH FREE SPEECH… Read more

  • REPORT: North Carolina is home to some of America’s best colleges for free speech

    September 24, 2018

    Eight colleges in North Carolina earn FIRE’s highest rating for free speech — more than in any other state — but 17 still maintain policies that substantially restrict student expression. PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 24, 2018 — A new report finds that North Carolina’s colleges and universities lead the way nationally for protecting student free speech. The… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more