George Mason University

Phi Beta Kappa: Member Institutions’ Speech Codes

November 29, 2005

When George Mason University cancelled a speech by filmmaker Michael Moore, the Phi Beta Kappa Society denied George Mason University’s application for a campus chapter of the honor society, citing academic freedom concerns. Given the Society’s professed commitment to freedom of speech, FIRE wrote to Phi Beta Kappa Secretary John Churchill to point out the speech codes that abound at Phi Beta Kappa member institutions. FIRE’s letter specifically called attention to outrageous codes at Cornell University, Oberlin College, The Ohio State University, Penn State University, Rhodes College, theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, and West Virginia University. Given Phi Beta Kappa’s stance on GMU, it seems reasonable to assume that the society would […]

George Mason University: Unconstitutional Policies and Suppression of Dissent

October 27, 2005

GMU student and Air Force veteran Tariq Khan protested military recruiters on campus by silently standing near their table with a “Recruiters Lie” sign taped to his chest while passing out handbills. According to witnesses, a student assaulted Khan and took his sign within less than 30 minutes. Yet the police arrested Khan, not the other students involved in the ensuing fracas, allegedly because he had violated GMU Policy 1110. The ACLU of Virginia came to Khan’s legal aid, and FIRE discovered that GMU maintains several unconstitutional policies limiting freedom of expression. FIRE wrote GMU President Alan G. Merten, pointing […]

Residential Student Handbook: Harassment/Intimidation/Bullying

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: March 5, 2018

The Office of Housing and Residence Life will not tolerate a hostile environment created by conduct so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to educational opportunity or benefit.

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Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Multicultural Education: Bias Incident Report Form

Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: March 5, 2018

The university defines bias incidents as follows:

Bias Incidents: A bias incident is an act of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, violence or criminal offense committed against any person, group or property that appears to be intentional and motivated by prejudice or bias. Such are usually associated with negative feelings and beliefs with respect to others race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age social class, political affiliation, disability, veteran status, club affiliation or organizational membership.

However it is important for you to know that some bias-motivated, prejudice or otherwise disrespectful acts may be constitutionally protected speech and thus not subject to University disciplinary action or formal investigation.

The reporting process (also described in the Freedom of Expression Policy) helps Mason to record and evaluate these occurrences for climate assessment and planning purposes. The Office of Diversity Inclusion and Multicultural Education or Campus Climate Committee does not have independent authority to adjudicate incidents falling under this definition.

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University Policy Number 1202: Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Other Interpersonal Violence

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 20, 2018

a) Definition of Harassment

Harassment is a type of Discrimination that occurs when verbal, physical, electronic, or other conduct based on an individual’s Protected Status (Protected Statuses are listed in University Policy 1201, Non-Discrimination) interferes with that individual’s (a) educational environment (e.g., admission, academic standing, grades, assignment); (b) work environment (e.g., hiring, advancement, assignment); (c) participation in a University program or activity (e.g., campus housing); or (d) receipt of legitimately-requested services (e.g., disability or religious accommodations).  In order for conduct to constitute Harassment it must either rise to the level of Hostile Environment Harassment or be Quid Pro Quo Harassment, as defined below.

i. Hostile Environment Harassment

Unwelcome conduct based on Protected Status that is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it alters the conditions of education, employment, or participation in a University program or activity, thereby creating an environment that a reasonable person in similar circumstances and with similar identities would find hostile, intimidating, or abusive. An isolated incident, unless sufficiently severe, does not amount to Hostile Environment Harassment.

ii. Quid Pro Quo Harassment

Unwelcome conduct based on Protected Status where submission to or rejection of such conduct is used, explicitly or implicitly, as the basis for decisions affecting an individual’s education, employment, or participation in a University program or activity.

b) Sexual or Gender-Based Harassment

This policy prohibits Sexual or Gender-Based Harassment (other University policies prohibit Harassment based on other protected statuses).  Sexual or Gender-Based Harassment is harassment, as defined above, involves:

1. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal, physical, or electronic conduct of a sexual nature;
2. Verbal, physical, or electronic conduct based on Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, or sex-stereotyping, even if those acts do not involve conduct of a sexual nature, or
3. Harassment for exhibiting what is perceived as a stereotypical characteristic for one’s Sex or for failing to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity, regardless of the actual or perceived Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, or Gender Expression of the individuals involved.

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Mason’s Freedom of Expression Statement

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: March 5, 2018

[A]ll members of the George Mason University community enjoy the right to freedom of speech and expression.

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Code of Student Conduct: Acts of Misconduct

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: March 5, 2018

All hostile, threatening, or intimidating behavior that by its very nature would be interpreted by a reasonable person to threaten or endanger the health, safety or well-being of another. Examples of such behavior may include, but are not limited to: a) An act(s) that alarms or seriously disrupts another person’s ability to participate in any aspect of University life is prohibited; or b) Communicating verbally either directly or indirectly through another party, by telephone, regular or electronic mail, voice mail or any verbal, mechanical, electronic or written communication in a manner that would likely restrict or deny an individual’s access to educational resources, university activities, and university-related opportunities.

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Residential Student Handbook: Posting and Distribution

Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: March 5, 2018

The sign may not include content so severe and pervasive and objectionably offensive that it effectively creates a hostile environment.

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George Mason U. Reaffirms Commitment to Free Speech in All-Student Email

October 28, 2016

By Jenna Lifhits at The Weekly Standard Students at George Mason University awoke Monday morning to a three-paragraph message warning them that they will not be coddled on campus… Read more here.

Slip of the Tongue

July 13, 2016

By Colleen Flaherty at Inside Higher Ed Troy University has apparently revoked the department chairmanship of an economics professor caught saying on tape that a colleague at his Charles Koch Foundation-backed academic center wants to “take down” Alabama’s public retirement system… Read more here.

GMU’s Scalia Law School is a Win for Free Thought

June 7, 2016

By Thomas Wheatley at The Washington Post The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently made the courageous decision to officially allow George Mason University’s law school to rename itself in honor the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia… Read more here.

Sensitive Students, Faculty Make for Interesting Times on Campus

May 10, 2016

By Staff at The Oklahoman DURING a commencement speech at the University of Michigan last month, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg talked in part about the need for students to expose themselves to new ideas and try to get along with people they don’t agree with. This is among “the most important skills in the working world,” Bloomberg said… Read more here.

University of Chicago Dumps Speech Codes, Earns Highest Rating From Free-Speech Group

April 26, 2016

By Staff at The College Fix It pioneered the faculty statement in favor of freedom of expression, and now the University of Chicago has earned a coveted green-light rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education… Read more here.

Out of Balance

April 14, 2016

By Jake New at Inside Higher Ed Last week, the California Court of Appeals ruled against the University of Southern California in a lawsuit brought by a student suspended for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman during group sex… Read more here.

Students Had BDSM Sex. Male Says He Obeyed Safe Word. GMU Agreed, Expelled Him Anyway.

March 1, 2016

By Robby Soave at Reason.com George Mason University expelled a male student engaged in a BDSM relationship with a young woman—even though the panel agreed their disputed sexual encounter was consensual because he stopped when he heard the safe word. Read more here.

Why Students Don’t Want Free Speech on Campus Anymore

December 16, 2015

By Heather Sells at CBN News CHICAGO — More and more, today’s college students want professors and administrators to make them feel safe and will protest if they don’t. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Higher Education (FIRE) is a nonprofit educational foundation that tracks speech on college campuses. The foundation recently captured cell phone video of a Yale University student publicly cussing at and denouncing Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a professor and master of Silliman College, a residence hall, at Yale. “You should step down,” the student screamed at Cristakis. “It is not about creating an intellectual space. It is […]

New Threat to Campus Speech: Department of Education’s Plans for Racial Harassment, Report Says

December 11, 2015

By Peter Maxwell at The College Fix Fear that agency’s guidance could ‘parallel’ broad sexual-harassment rules Despite a plunge this year in the number of universities with severe restrictions on free speech, new threats are on the horizon thanks to outgoing Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s recent statements on racial issues, according to a new report. For the first time since the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education started tracking speech codes on college campuses, less than half of American colleges it has rated maintain “red light” policies, FIRE’s annual “Spotlight” report said. Between September 2014 and September 2015, FIRE downgraded 10 universities […]

Report: Campus Free Speech Might Be Spreading, But the Federal Government Wants to Stop That

December 10, 2015

By Robby Soave at Reason.com Some good news and some bad news from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education: the number of college campuses maintaining restrictions on speech has decreased for an eighth consecutive year, but the Education Department’s guidance on sexual harassment continues to pose a significant threat to free expression. According to FIRE’s 2016 report on “The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Campuses,” just 49.3 percent of American universities maintain severely unconstitutional speech codes. This is the first time in FIRE’s 16-year history that statistic has dipped below 50 percent. Additionally, six universities eliminated speech […]

The Campus Halloween Costume Wars Reveal That College Free Speech Is Undead

October 30, 2015

By Robby Soave at Reason Online Are you a college student who can’t decide whether your Halloween costume is potentially offensive? Here’s a helpful infographic that might make things clearer. Just kidding. That infographic, posted by administrators in the student affairs department of North Carolina State University and noticed by Campus Reform, is probably the least helpful Halloween costume guide ever made. The only reasonable takeaway is that any costume edgier than a plain white sheetshould be avoided. Administrators at universities all over the country are eager to tell students what not to wear in order to mitigate any chances of […]

UNLV’s First Amendment Ranking Improves

May 22, 2015

By Editorial at Las Vegas Review Journal Nevada’s underperforming K-12 schools aren’t the only campuses stuck with low ratings. Higher education has its problems, too, particularly when it comes to free speech at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno. Since 1999, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has been rating hundreds of public and private colleges based on their commitment to free speech, using red, yellow and green lights. (Think of a traffic signal controlling the flow of expression.) For years, both UNLV and UNR had been stuck on a red-light rating with […]

University Earns ‘Green Light’ For Respecting Free Speech

May 8, 2015

By Bob Kellogg at OneNewsNow A university has earned a rare achievement by being designated a “green light” university by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Azhar Majeed of FIRE says the foundation began working with George Mason University one year ago to revise seven university policies, such as posting flyers on campus, sexual harassment rules, and student conduct. A “green light” designation means the university has no policies that “infringe on students’ and faculty members’ free speech rights,” he tells OneNewsNow. GMU becomes just the 20th “green light” among more than 400 universities and colleges in FIRE’s Spotlight […]

Video: Megyn Kelly Offers Helpful Advice to Students Seeking “Safe Space” from Opinions

April 23, 2015

By Ed Morrissey at Hot Air “Life doesn’t only involve the people who think the way you think,” Megyn Kelly told college students toward the end of her interview with Christina Hoff Sommers. Kelly and Sommers discuss the latter’s recent experiences at college campus events, where the mere presence of her fact-based critiques of “rape culture” hysteria are enough to send campus activists into rumpus rooms to protect themselves from the supposed cognitive damage that alternative points of view provide. “In the words of my old trainer,” Kelly concludes out of frustration, “toughen up, buttercup.” Heather Wilhelm calls all of […]

George Mason University and the Perpetual Problem of Speech Codes

April 23, 2015

By John K. Wilson at The Academe Blog George Mason University (GMU) has gotten a lot of attention this week, with FIRE declaring that GMU “has eliminated all of its speech codes, earning the highest, ‘green light’ rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.” Unfortunately, this isn’t true. GMU continues to have a Student Code of Conduct that’s flawed in many ways and severely restricts student freedoms. Now, it’s understandable that FIRE would issue this statement, because GMU fixed some of the most egregious parts of their speech code under pressure from FIRE, and FIRE wants to reward […]

George Mason University Joins Ranks of Other Universities in Respecting Free Speech: University Earns ‘Green Light’ Distinction, Updates Policies

April 23, 2015

By Mary Lou Byrd at The Washington Free Beacon George Mason University has earned the high distinction of a “green light” rating for eliminating all of its speech codes and ensuring its policies comply with the First Amendment. GMU received the highest rating from The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which has worked with the university for the past decade on its speech codes. It is the 20th university in the country to earn the green light rating out of the more than 400 colleges and universities in FIRE’s database. “It’s always gratifying for FIRE to work with a […]

George Mason University Earns Green Light Speech Code Rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

April 21, 2015

By Todd Zywicki at The Washington Post I’m pleased to formally note that after revising its policies on the scope of permitted speech and academic freedom, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has announced that George Mason University has earned a green light rating from FIRE, meaning that it has no formal rules or restrictions that improperly limit free speech or academic freedom. I want to thank the members of the George Mason staff and community for their dedicated efforts in helping to bring about this happy result. Some will remember my column that I wrote for the […]

George Mason University Dumps All Speech Codes, Earns Coveted ‘Green Light’ Rating

April 21, 2015

By Greg Piper at The College Fix OK, perhaps not many schools are coveting the responsibility to let students speak freely and not punish or intimidate them into docility when it becomes politically convenient, but they should. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education announced today that George Mason University in northern Virginia has dropped all its speech codes – without a threatened or actual lawsuit – earning the civil liberties group’s “green light” rating. It’s been a long time coming, FIRE said, noting GMU came on its radar in a 2005 incident where a student was arrested while protesting near […]

Another Reason to Rein in Bureaucrats

March 10, 2015

By Alex McHugh at National Review George Mason Law School Professor Todd Zywicki has shown that administrative bloat is not just a sign of bad fiscal management; its ever-expanding resources and power can also be obstacles to crucial policy reform. Zywicki’s quite urgent goal was to ensure that the policies on student speech at his public university come into compliance with the U.S. Constitution and earn the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s “green light” rating for observance of the First Amendment. Neither high-level administrators, nor other professors demurred. Instead, the mid-level bureaucrats of the “University Life Office” were able […]

Meet The Mid-Level Bureaucrats Who Impose Speech Codes On America’s Universities

February 4, 2015

By Todd J. Zywicki at The John William Pope Center The university where I teach, George Mason University (GMU), has a speech code which purports to regulate the speech of students in the interest of civility and educational values. As a result, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has given George Mason a “yellow” light rating, which identifies an institution “with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.” Following a 2005 incident in which a student (and former Air Force veteran) was arrestedby campus police for violating a substantively similar regulation, the […]

You Can’t Say That Here — This Is a University!

November 2, 2010

by A. Barton Hinkle Richmond Times-Dispatch Teresa Sullivan has been in the president’s office for only a brief period, but the University of Virginia already has made a tremendous improvement on her watch. The Foundation for Individ ual Rights in Education (FIRE), an organization dedicated to protecting free speech on campus, reports that it has conferred its green-light award on Mr. Jefferson’s university. UVa thereby becomes one of only 13 colleges in the nation — William & Mary is another — to receive the rare designation, which the Charlottesville school earned by revising its egregious speech codes. Those speech codes […]

A new wave of PC on campus

December 12, 2005

ALAN TEMES, an assistant professor of health and physical education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was getting good reviews on the job until his politics became an issue. Temes, who opposes the war in Iraq, began posting updates of the body count of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians on a bulletin board near his office. Last April, department chair Elaine Blair e-mailed Temes advising him to stop posting the notices. Then, Temes claims in a lawsuit, she warned him that continued antiwar protests would hurt his chances of getting tenure. Later, he was denied tenure, despite apparently meeting the qualifications […]

Clash of campus freedom, civility

December 11, 2005

When Tariq Khan staged a one-man demonstration against military recruiters, he felt safe because he was on a college campus. Then he was arrested. “When the police officer started to handcuff me, I was pretty surprised,” Khan said last week. “Usually we tend to think of college campuses as sort of safe havens for this type of thing, for people who want to raise consciousness about controversial issues.” Most colleges and universities, whether public or private, pride themselves on adhering to principles of free speech and expression as protected by the First Amendment. But at many schools, the practical problem […]

Pariahs, Martyrs — and Fighters Back

October 24, 2005

At the start of the last school year, activists at DePaul University set up a pair of tables along a student thoroughfare and distributed literature to passers-by. They caught the eye of faculty member Thomas Klocek, who took one of their handouts and read about Israel’s “brutal and murderous occupation” of “Palestine” as well as its “apartheid violence” in the West Bank and Gaza. This was provocative stuff — but nothing out of the ordinary for the two groups behind it all, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and United Muslims Moving Ahead (UMMA). Engaging the students in a discussion […]

The Lone Pine Revolution

May 14, 2005

Two bespectacled, suit-wearing academics make for unlikely revolutionaries. However, the election of Hoover Institution fellow Peter Robinson ’79 and George Mason University law professor Todd Zywicki ’88 to Dartmouth College’s Board of Trustees, announced Thursday, is perhaps the most significant event in the institution’s recent history. Most Trustee elections at Dartmouth, like those to most corporate boards, are low-key affairs, marked by apathy. But not this one. Just to earn a place on the Trustee election ballot, Robinson and Zywicki each had to collect 500 alumni signatures on a petition. They next fought back a spirited opposition from the four […]

Freer Speech at Dartmouth?

May 10, 2005

Can speech that hurts feelings get you in trouble at Dartmouth College? That’s what libertarian critics of the college have been charging for some time, saying that the college has a speech code that squelches free expression. Dartmouth has said that its policies have been distorted. But this month, the college clarified its stance and at least some of its critics now say that the college no longer has policies that inhibit free speech on the campus. The clarification comes as the college is counting the votes in a trustee election in which the college’s speech policies were a major […]

The Dartmouth Insurgency

April 25, 2005

IF YOU’RE NOT A DARTMOUTH alum, there are still two reasons to care about this year’s alumni trustee election: Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki, who are running as insurgents. Robinson is an author and Hoover Institution scholar best known for penning Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech in 1987. Zywicki is a George Mason University law professor and blogger for the popular Volokh Conspiracy site. They are Dartmouth grads–classes of 1979 and 1988, respectively. Each launched a petition drive last winter to get his name on the 2005 alumni trustee ballot, using Internet-assisted word-of-mouth to collect the required 500 signatures. Both […]

Campus Hourglass

March 17, 2004

By Candace de Russy and KC Johnson at National Review Who will guard the guardians? This common saying applies to American higher education, where professors and administrators are normally exempt from the scrutiny given to other public institutions. A tradition of academic freedom, flowing from the belief that the faculty’s training in their academic disciplines equips them to decide what to teach, has protected the autonomy of American colleges and universities and helped make them the envy of the world. But the principle of academic freedom can be subject to abuse, particularly in personnel and curricular matters, where personal and ideological agendas can […]

Free speech dilemmas; Free speech ‘zones’ and ‘codes’ go from campus to court

January 12, 2004

The free speech wars continue to be waged on university campuses, producing their fair share of First Amendment litigation.While campus “speech codes” that discipline students for offensive or so-called “politically incorrect” speech have been roundly condemned by the courts, they are still generating controversy.But still to be tested are “free speech zones,” which confine free speech activities to a specific area of a campus. Such zones are vulnerable to challenge if used as a kind of banishment that isolates speakers from their intended audience.Greg C. Lukianoff, director of legal and public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, […]

Students’ Rights Protected

August 25, 2003

Mason Protects Student Rights

July 15, 2003

By Nicholas Zinzer at Broadside Online Awareness of one’s rights on campus is both critical and beneficial. Students who are aware of the legal rights protecting them will be able to recognize when they are being taken advantage of and able to defend themselves accordingly. Religion plays a prominent role in many students’ lives and protecting the right to practice an individual’s religion is an important part of George Mason University’s policy. Numerous spiritual groups exist on campus and knowing how a student is protected is helpful. Most importantly, Mason cannot inhibit particular religious groups or advance any religious doctrine. […]

Letter from the Editor: Policies Come Under FIRE

November 14, 2002

Auburn University Embroiled in a Free Speech Lawsuit

December 11, 2001

By Debbie Elliott and Linda Wertheimer at All Things Considered (NPR) ANCHORS: NOAH ADAMS; LINDA WERTHEIMER REPORTERS: DEBBIE ELLIOTT NOAH ADAMS, host: From NPR News, it’s ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I’m Noah Adams. LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: And I’m Linda Wertheimer. In Alabama, Auburn University is embroiled in a free speech lawsuit. It stems from the university’s decision to suspend 15 students and two all-white fraternities after photos from Halloween parties showed the students wearing racially offensive costumes. NPR’s Debbie Elliott reports. DEBBIE ELLIOTT reporting: Shock, embarrassment, humiliation–those are the words that Auburn officials and students alike use to describe their reaction to what […]

‘Green light’ institution George Mason University adopts free speech statement

January 15, 2019

In the late fall of 2018, a sixth “green light” institution in FIRE’s Spotlight database adopted a version of the “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression” at the University of Chicago (better known as the “Chicago Statement”). George Mason University, a green light institution since 2015, is the 55th institution or faculty body in the nation to endorse such a free speech statement. GMU’s free speech policy statement affirms the importance of freedom of expression in higher education. “Being exposed to competing perspectives,” the statement asserts, “is essential for questioning our assumptions, testing our beliefs and refining our […]

Open records request reveals donor influence at George Mason University

May 1, 2018

Documents produced pursuant to an open records request demonstrate that George Mason University entered into agreements with the Charles Koch Foundation and other donors between 2003 and 2011 that granted those donors broad input into faculty employment. As the The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed report, these arrangements reveal close ties between donors and GMU decision-making regarding faculty hiring and retention. For example, the Chronicle reports that some agreements “contained stipulations allowing the donors to appoint members of a committee that oversees the professorships,” while others included donors in creating “advisory boards that would […]

More Campus Leaders Address Free Speech; Some Do It Better Than Others

October 27, 2016

We’ve been keeping our eye on the recent uptick in campus leaders addressing free speech. In our latest roundup of public commitments to freedom of speech by college and university administrators, we’re focusing only on “The Good”—bringing you a few of our recent favorites. We’ve even included one statement that almost made our “Bad” list. Read on to find out why: The Good George Mason University (GMU) In an email to GMU students on Monday, Vice President for University Life Rose Pascarell took a pro-speech speech stance on the topic of civility in the wake of several recent campus events […]

Due Process Legal Update: Students’ Title IX and Due Process Claims Move Forward, But Challenges Remain

March 1, 2016

As I’ve written about on many previous occasions, there are a large number of ongoing lawsuits by students alleging that through unfair campus sexual misconduct proceedings, their institutions violated their constitutional due process rights, breached contracts, and discriminated against them on the basis of sex. In the past eight days alone, there have been four new opinions issued in cases at Brown University, Cornell University, George Mason University, and The Ohio State University, and all but one of those decisions had favorable results for due process and fair procedure on campus. Notably, two of the favorable opinions come from lawsuits […]

FIRE’s Majeed: 2015 Already a Good Year for Speech Code Reform

July 30, 2015

Over at The Huffington Post today, my colleague Azhar Majeed takes an encouraging survey of the solid progress FIRE has already made in 2015 in reforming restrictive speech codes. Azhar reviews the four schools that have already earned FIRE’s best, most speech-friendly “green light” rating thus far in 2015—George Mason University, Purdue University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Western State Colorado University—and highlights the important roles that students and faculty can play in improving policies. Taking a close look at Purdue, Azhar writes: These changes benefit faculty members and students tremendously in the exercise of their […]

George Mason University Earns FIRE’s Highest Rating for Free Speech

April 21, 2015

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2015—George Mason University (GMU) has eliminated all of its speech codes, earning the highest, “green light” rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). After working with FIRE to ensure its policies comply with the First Amendment, the Virginia university has joined a select group of colleges and universities nationwide to earn FIRE’s most favorable rating for free speech on campus. “We commend George Mason University for improving its policies and fully upholding the First Amendment rights of its students and faculty members,” said Azhar Majeed, Director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Education Program. “GMU is […]

Law Prof: Bureaucracy Hinders Freedom of Speech

February 6, 2015

George Mason University (GMU) School of Law professor Todd Zywicki knows from personal experience that persuading an institution to revise its unconstitutional speech codes is not always an easy task. Zywicki shared some of what he’s learned from his advocacy over the years in a post on The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s blog on Wednesday. Zywicki notes that although recent trends might lead readers to believe that campus censorship is imposed by politically motivated professors, its origins often lie elsewhere—in harder-to-reach places. For example, at GMU, he writes: There is a separate office for that, called […]

George Mason University President: Unfettered Dialogue Empowers Students

December 19, 2013

There is another controversy related to Middle East politics on a college campus, this time at the George Mason University (GMU) main campus. (Disclosure: I am an adjunct legal writing instructor at the GMU law school.) But in this case, the participants appear committed to a constructive debate over whether the university should honor Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison as the commencement speaker at the winter graduation ceremony. As reported by Inside Higher Ed, the group GMU Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) has circulated an open letter stating that Ms. Arison’s business consortium finances projects in Israel that harm Palestinians and therefore […]

Getting It Right: Dean of George Mason Law Sets Excellent Example

October 4, 2011

All too often here at FIRE, we find ourselves up to our necks in campus censorship. For example, in just the last few weeks, we’ve seen a professor threatened by campus police for posting a sci-fi quote and a coalition of student groups silenced by a professor who didn’t like their free speech wall. Of course, FIRE fights hard to correct these wrongs. But sometimes the constant stream of rights violations on campus gets a little depressing, to be honest. So that’s why it’s a real pleasure to come across a sterling example of how a school should react when […]

Virginia Newspaper Touts Growing Number of ‘Green Light’ Schools

February 8, 2011

With only 14 “green light” colleges and universities in the entire country, the state of Virginia should be proud to be home to two of them. Writing in the Daily Press (Hampton Roads, Va.), Michael F. Cochrane commends the University of Virginia (UVa) and The College of William & Mary for preserving free speech on campus: As Virginians we can be justly proud that our state has some of the top colleges and universities in the nation. We have colleges that are ranked nationally in sports and academic achievement. But now we have a new reason for pride: The Foundation […]

‘Volokh Conspiracy’ and Local Media Decry Virginia Speech Codes

November 3, 2010

Ever since the University of Virginia (UVa) eliminated all four of its speech codes to earn FIRE’s coveted “green light” rating, local and national media have put the spotlight on the speech codes remaining at other public universities in Virginia. When FIRE announced the news, we noted that UVa joins The College of William & Mary as two Virginia institutions in an elite group of 13 “green light” schools and that we are now turning our attention to three more Virginia public universities: George Mason, rated “red light,” and James Madison and Virginia Tech, both rated “yellow light.” How bad for free speech are these three […]

What Would the Founders Think of the Modern University?

July 9, 2008

(Maggie Rackl is a senior at the College of Charleston, where she majors in History with a minor in Asian Studies, and a 2008 FIRE Summer Intern.) In my experience, a favorite question of college and university admissions applications is the classic, “If you could go to dinner with any one person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you discuss?” As much of a groaner as this question is, I find it particularly fun to imagine chatting with any one of the many founders of our nation over plates of meat and potatoes and steins of […]

At George Mason, Student Editors Decry School’s Speech Code

September 26, 2007

The editors of The Broadside, George Mason University’s student newspaper, have sharp words for their school’s unconstitutional speech code in an editorial published in yesterday’s edition. The Broadside editors write: Mason is a public university; it has no business enforcing rules that restrict first amendment speech. Its only defense is that these policies, in some intangible way, enforce diversity. This is pure fallacy. When Mason students fear to say what they believe, the result is deadly to campus life and student thought. True diversity on campus can only stem from one thing, a diversity of thought. Mason must dissolve these […]

Offensive Halloween Costumes and Censorship

October 31, 2006

Halloween is upon us and college students all across the country will be celebrating this day by dressing up in a wide array of costumes. While some students will probably stick to classic costumes such as ghosts and vampires, some others may be thinking about slipping into scarier, more politically incorrect costumes this Halloween. For instance, in 2005, at the University of Chicago a group of students found themselves in trouble for holding a “Straight Thuggin’ Party” where students listened to rap music and dressed in hip-hop attire. Should students be afraid of disciplinary action for wearing potentially offensive Halloween costumes? […]

There Is No Such Thing as ‘Hate Speech’

February 24, 2006

Yes, that is correct. “Hate speech” is not a category of speech recognized under current constitutional law. It is merely a convenient way to pigeonhole speech that some people find offensive. But what is very troubling is when people begin to treat “hate speech” as unprotected speech. For example, a student leader at Penn State, a university which was recently sued for its unconstitutionally vague and overbroad speech codes, made the following comment featured in a prominent article in the student newspaper The Daily Collegian: “We support any and all university policies that prohibit intolerant actions against any student on […]

Clarification on PBK’s Double Standard

February 3, 2006

In a blog last week, I explained that the honor society Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) does not support schools like evangelical Wheaton College, which recently fired a professor for converting to Catholicism. I made the assertion that if PBK claims to support academic freedom, it should stand up to its many member institutions that have “immoral or even illegal speech codes.” One reader of The Torch interpreted that blog as my calling Wheaton’s actions immoral. He wrote: [T]he right of free speech…is not absolute when it comes to employment at a PRIVATE university. Private universities have the moral right to […]

Censorship is Everybody’s Problem

December 29, 2005

FIRE’s press release from yesterday details some of the cases that made 2005 FIRE’s busiest year ever. If 2005 made anything clear, it is that no student, regardless of his or her views, is safe from censorship on today’s college and university campuses. This year, we intervened on behalf of students censored for expressing viewpoints spanning the political spectrum: Seminole Community College in Florida refused to allow a student to distribute literature from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. After FIRE intervened, the college changed course and allowed the student to distribute her literature. Northeastern Illinois University decided to […]

FIRE’s Work Lauded in Newspapers Nationwide

December 12, 2005

It’s been a good couple of days for Justice Brandeis’ maxim that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Thanks to articles in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, news of FIRE’s efforts to disinfect the swamps of repression currently passing for American universities is reaching an ever-increasing number of people.   On Sunday, The New York Times covered our recent victory at William Paterson University. (Read it at the Times website if you are a TimesSelect subscriber.) The article by Peter Applebome ran on the front page of the Metro section and thoroughly denounced […]

Phi Beta Kappa Can Do Better

December 2, 2005

Earlier this week, FIRE wrote Phi Beta Kappa a letter encouraging the organization to join the fight against censorship and repression at some of America’s most prestigious colleges and universities. Although FIRE has received no formal response from Phi Beta Kappa, the organization has made several comments to the press indicating that it is not particularly interested in addressing the problem of speech codes at its member institutions. Those comments fall along two lines: first, that Phi Beta Kappa’s decision to reject George Mason University’s application was not based on academic freedom grounds; and second, that Phi Beta Kappa is […]

FIRE Challenges Phi Beta Kappa to Stand Up for Free Speech

November 30, 2005

Most people will tell you that they support free speech. When people ask me what I do and I tell them I work for a free speech organization, the reaction is almost uniformly positive. Everyone seems to like the Bill of Rights, at least in theory. Dig a little deeper, however, and the waters become muddy. People don’t always see what’s wrong with policies intended to protect students from hurtful, offensive remarks. Yes, we support free speech, they say, but free speech doesn’t mean that people have the right to just go around offending other people. The Phi Beta Kappa […]

Policies Actually Matter; Don’t Be Deceived

November 17, 2005

Why, you may ask, does the fine staff at FIRE spend its days hunting down unconstitutional speech codes and disputing unjust university policies? Unjust university policies, as it turns out, lead to actual violations of students’ constitutional and human rights. As today’s press release shows, such policies at George Mason University (GMU) led to the September arrest of a peaceful protestor, even though he was the victim of a not-so-peaceful assault by a fellow student. GMU gained notoriety earlier this fall when student and Air Force veteran Tariq Khan objected to military recruiting at GMU by standing next to a […]

FIRE Challenges Unconstitutional Policies at George Mason University

November 17, 2005

FAIRFAX, Va., November 17, 2005—The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is challenging unconstitutional policies at George Mason University (GMU). Earlier this fall, such policies led to the arrest of a GMU student who was protesting military recruiters on its Northern Virginia campus. “GMU’s unconstitutional policies make it no surprise that a peaceful student protestor was arrested,” remarked FIRE President David French. “The distribution of posters, handbills, and newspapers was critical to our nation’s fight for independence. It is a shame that GMU, a public university named for one of America’s founders, restricts the right to do the very […]

McMasters on the Free Speech Controversy at George Mason University

October 24, 2005

Paul K. McMasters, renowned First Amendment expert and member of the Board of Editors for FIRE’s Guides to Student Rights on Campus series, has published an important piece (with an equally great title, “Fear of Dissent Is a Fear of Freedom”) on the recent controversy over student protests of military recruiters. The most notable case was at George Mason University in Virginia. As Paul explains: Late last month, a junior sociology major at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., silently stationed himself near a military recruiters’ table on campus. The student, Tariq Khan, is a Pakistani-American and a four-year veteran […]

Practical Advice for Fraternities Caught in the Battle for Free Speech on Campus

September 16, 2004

I. Introduction While there is no shortage of free speech battles on college campuses, fraternities have the dubious honor of being at the center of many of the least sympathetic controversies. From Halloween parties where brothers show up dressed as Ku Klux Klan members to fraternity newsletters that graphically relate a brother’s sexual exploits with named co-eds, fraternities sometimes express themselves in ways that are not exactly likely to win the battle for hearts and minds. However, although fraternities may later regret the actions of some of their brothers, they must not allow their rights to be stripped away by […]