Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University: Political Litmus Test in Music Department’s Job Requirements

July 18, 2009

Grand Valley State University: Suppression of Affirmative Action Bake Sale

April 6, 2005

Students at GVSU were threatened with possible punishment for holding an affirmative action bake sale protest. Complaining students charged the College Republicans with violating a variety of GVSU regulations, most having to do with “discrimination.” FIRE wrote GVSU president Mark Murray to protest the censorship. Unfortunately, under pressure from the administration, the College Republicans chose to eject their leadership and apologize for holding the event in the hope that the school would not issue any sanctions against the group.

Posting: Approval Requirements

Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 17, 2018

All posters must have:

• Name of event, date, time, location (if poster is for an event)
• Name of organization or department
• Contact information – Can be a phone number, email address, or website.

Posters cannot:

• Have any promotion or information about the sale or use of alcohol. If you are serving non-alcoholic beverages, choose words that are not associated with alcohol (Example: use “Mocktails” instead of “Cocktails”).
• Have any inappropriate pictures (nudity, sexual content, graphic portrayals).
• Exceed 11″x17″ or be posted more than one per board.

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Anti-Harassment Policy

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 17, 2018

Harassment is unprofessional conduct that could reasonably be understood as (1) having the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment, (2) having the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or access to educational activities and programs, (3) otherwise adversely affecting an individual’s employment opportunities or access to educational activities and programs.

Harassment on the basis of age, color, disability, familial status, height, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex/gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or weight is considered a violation of university policy.

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Team Against Bias: Our Commitment to Addressing Bias on Campus

Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: September 17, 2018

Grand Valley State University strives to create an inclusive and equitable campus community where people are treated with dignity and respect.  If anyone in the Grand Valley community feels belittled, disrespected, or isolated based on their identity, there is a mechanism to report the incident (see below). The university is committed to safeguarding individual’s constitutional rights to free speech and assembly and we are also committed to addressing incidents of bias that may negatively affect individuals and/or communities at the university.

Grand Valley facilitates educational dialogue to ensure that individuals understand both their right to free expression within the community and the impact of their expression on individuals and/or the community.  Any time an incident is reported, the reporting party will be contacted and informed about support resources available to them at the university.  Incidents reported through the bias system may violate university policies or the student code. These incidents will be investigated through the proper adjudicating body or bodies.

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Affirmative Action: Frequently Asked Questions

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 17, 2018

Sexual harassment, including same-sex sexual harassment, is any unwanted attention of a sexual nature from someone in the workplace or classroom that causes discomfort or interferes with work or academic performance.

Sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:

• Submission to such conduct is made-either explicitly or implicitly- a term or condition of an individual’s employment, education, living environment or participation in any college activity;
• Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as the basis for or factor in decision;s affecting an individual;s employment, education, living environment, or participation in any college activity;
• Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonable interfering with an individual’s employment or academic performance, or creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive or abusive environment for that individual’s employment education, living environment, or participation in any college activity.

Some examples that may constitute sexual harassment are:
Repeated request or pressures for dates
Unwanted offensive contacts outside the workplace
Disparaging sexual remarks about one’s gender or sexual orientation, that unreasonably interfere with the individual’s learning or working.
Physical aggression such as pinching or patting
Verbal sexual abuse disguised as fun
Offensive sexual jokes

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Faculty Handbook: Faculty Responsibilities and Workload

Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 17, 2018

In keeping with its responsibility to provide a congenial atmosphere in which all students have an equal opportunity to learn, the University disapproves of and seeks to eliminate discriminatory behavior directed against individuals. Such behavior, which may take the form of statements, jokes, examples, and illustrations that reveal stereotypic and discriminatory attitudes, is considered inappropriate.

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Sexual or Gender-Based Harassment (Including Retaliation) Policy

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 17, 2018

III. Definitions

1) Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or other unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, graphic, physical, or otherwise, when the conditions outlined in III.3. below.

2) Gender-Based Harassment includes harassment based on gender, sexual orientation, transgender, gender non-conforming, transitioning, gender identity, or gender expression, which may include acts of aggression, intimidation, or hostility, whether verbal or non-verbal, graphic, physical, or otherwise, even if the acts do not involve conduct of a sexual nature, when the conditions outlined in 2)a. and/or 2)b., below, are present:

a. Submission to or rejection of such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of a person’s employment, academic standing, or participation in any University programs and/or activities or is used as the basis for University decisions affecting the individual (often referred to as “quid pro quo” harassment); or,

b. Such conduct creates a hostile environment (See III.3. below)

…

3) A “hostile environment” exists when the sexual or gender-based conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits, or deprives an individual from participating in or benefitting from the University’s education or employment programs and/or activities.

a. In evaluating whether a hostile environment exists, the University will consider the totality of known circumstances, including, but not limited to:

i. The frequency, nature and severity of the conduct;

ii. Whether the conduct was physically threatening;

iii. The effect of the conduct on the Complainant’s mental or emotional state;

iv. Whether the conduct was directed at more than one person;

v. Whether the conduct arose in the context of other discriminatory conduct (see Anti-Harassment Policy);

vi. Whether the conduct unreasonably interfered with the Complainant’s educational or work performance and/or University programs or activities; and/or,

vii. Whether the conduct implicates concerns related to academic freedom or protected speech.

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Grounds and Facility Use Policy

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 17, 2018

University property is primarily dedicated to academic, student life and administrative functions. But it also represents the “marketplace of ideas,” and especially for students, many areas of campus represent a public forum for speech and other Expressive Activities. For students and registered student organizations, certain areas of campus are venues for free expression, including speeches, demonstrations, and the distribution of literature, as provided by this policy.

The University shall not consider the content or viewpoint of the Expressive Activity or the possible reaction to that Expressive Activity in applying this policy.

…

For outdoor University areas, students, registered student organizations, and employees may freely engage in spontaneous Expressive Activities provided that such activities are in compliance with all other provisions of this policy.

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Students Sue GVSU for Limiting Free Speech on Campus

December 9, 2016

By Tyler Scott at Michigan Radio A student group at Grand Valley State University is suing the school for restricting free speech on campus… Read more here.

Campus Hate Crime Hoaxes: A Best-Of List

December 17, 2014

By Michael Cipriano at The College Fix From New Jersey to Wyoming, college campuses around the country have been plagued with hate crime hoaxes in recent years. Sometimes justified as trying to raise awareness for progressive social causes, the hoaxes often worked. The College Fix compiled this list of recent university hate crime hoaxes. Racist Facebook messages posted by student himself – November 2014 A University of Chicago student admitted to posting racist and violent messages against himself on his Facebook page after claiming his account was hacked. The elaborate hoax was an attempt to shame the school into making policy changes addressing race […]

Baking With Fire

April 18, 2005

The enemies of campus bake sales are at it again, inflaming one another over the dire threat of cupcakes and cookies sold at different prices to whites, minorities, and women. The sales are political parody, of course, poking fun at affirmative action policies and trying to get a debate going. Campus orthodoxy holds that such policies are sacred and that any dissent, even in the form of satirical cookie prices, is illegitimate and deserving of suppression. When members of a Republican club staged a bake sale March 21 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., several students said they […]

GVSU supports free speech

October 23, 2003

Grand Valley State University abolishes free speech zones in lawsuit settlement

March 6, 2017

Last week, Michigan’s Grand Valley State University confirmed the settlement of a First Amendment lawsuit filed on behalf of students and their student organization challenging allegedly unconstitutional restrictions on their campus free speech rights, including a policy cabining demonstrations to two small free speech zones. Attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit last December on behalf of GVSU’s student chapter of Turning Point USA and two of its student members based on an Oct. 17, 2016, incident on campus. According to their complaint, the TPUSA members reserved space in one of two small areas designated for expressive activity on […]

Admins at ‘Red Light’ Schools Claim to Value Free Speech, But Policies Suggest Otherwise

February 4, 2014

Last month, FIRE released its 2014 report on campus speech codes, which revealed that 59% of the 427 colleges and universities analyzed maintain policies that clearly and substantially restrict constitutionally protected speech. When quizzed recently by student journalists about their institution’s speech codes, administrators at “red light” institutions Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Grand Valley State University (GVSU) protested their ratings, arguing that their schools value and protect free expression. But these administrators should remember that written policies prohibiting protected speech still threaten free expression regardless of whether a school’s current administration pledges to uphold First Amendment principles. Though JHU […]

Support Pours in for Grand Valley State Student Journalist Harangued by Administrators

January 17, 2014

We recently brought you the unfortunate story of Grand Valley State University (GVSU) student and Grand Valley Lanthorn student newspaper editor-in-chief Lizzy Balboa, who was beleaguered by campus administrators for publishing an editorial expressing concern that GVSU might be prioritizing donor appeasement over education, free speech rights, and academic freedom. Shockingly, administrators reportedly told Balboa that she was unworthy of her scholarship because she was “ungrateful,” and suggested that the Lanthorn retract its editorial and publish puff pieces expressing gratitude to donors. FIRE has since been told that the administrator who called Balboa’s personal cell phone to dress her down for the editorial was none other than GVSU […]

Grand Valley State Administrators Attack Newspaper Staff for Criticizing Donor Handling

January 14, 2014

It is no secret that many colleges and universities are heavily reliant on the financial generosity of alumni, and often even large corporate or institutional interests. While this is not itself necessarily problematic, it can serve as a terrible incentive for administrators to stifle speech that might offend financial supporters or otherwise dissuade them from giving. The very real nature of this risk was made clear with a startling report today from the Grand Valley Lanthorn, a student newspaper, about the reprehensible actions of administrators at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Michigan. On December 5, the Lanthorn published an editorial opposing GVSU’s increasing practice of naming buildings, rooms, […]

Victory for Freedom of Conscience at Grand Valley State University: Music Department Axes Political Litmus Test

July 28, 2009

Grand Valley State University (GVSU) has promised to remove “demonstrated commitment to the principles of diversity” from the stated job requirements for prospective faculty seeking appointment to GVSU’s Department of Music. The department will restate its requirements in terms of relevant experience, not vaguely worded personal commitments regarding a controversial political issue. The change, which came after FIRE asked GVSU to restore freedom of conscience on its campus, is a fresh reminder to public universities that they cannot require prospective faculty to demonstrate personal commitment to “the principles of diversity,” any more than they can require a commitment to “patriotism,” […]

Victory for Freedom of Conscience at Grand Valley State University: Music Department Axes Political Litmus Test

July 28, 2009

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., July 28, 2009—Grand Valley State University (GVSU) has promised to remove “demonstrated commitment to the principles of diversity” from the stated job requirements for faculty seeking appointment to GVSU’s Department of Music. The department will restate its requirements in terms of relevant experience, not vaguely worded personal commitments regarding a controversial political issue. The change came after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) asked GVSU to restore freedom of conscience on its campus. “We have reminded public universities time and time again that they cannot require that prospective faculty demonstrate personal commitment to ‘the principles […]

FIRE Remembers September 11

September 11, 2007

Today, FIRE joins individuals across America and around the world in reflecting upon the tragic events of September 11, 2001. As university students and professors from Maine to California host commemorations today to remember those who suffered and died six years ago, we take a moment to look back at how those events played out on campus in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, and how their legacy continues to affect us today. In the wake of the tragedy, FIRE was called on to defend liberty on campus as many universities reacted to the cataclysmic circumstances with sometimes shocking limitations […]

FIRE Gets Results

April 8, 2005

Today’s FIRE press release celebrates a victory for free speech and expression at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), where students were threatened with punishment if they held an affirmative action bake sale protest. If you’re not familiar with these protests, we explain them in our press release, so take a look there. Unfortunately, the victory at NEIU is matched with a blow to free speech at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, where students under pressure from the administration buckled and apologized for exercising their First Amendment rights. Most of those who read FIRE’s blog and follow our work are people […]

Bake Sale Battles Continue: FIRE Gains Victory at NEIU, Turns Sights on Grand Valley State University

April 8, 2005

CHICAGO, April 8, 2005—In a victory for free speech on campus, Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) has decided to allow the College Republicans to hold an affirmative action bake sale protest on campus with “no preconditions.”  The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) received written confirmation of the change on Wednesday afternoon, less than 36 hours after publicizing NEIU’s unconstitutional threat to punish the College Republicans if they held the protest.  At the same time that NEIU changed course, however, FIRE learned that Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Michigan was proceeding with plans to try the GVSU College Republicans […]