School Spotlight

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Location: North Adams, Massachusetts
Type: Public
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Speech Code Rating

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has been given the speech code rating Yellow. Yellow light colleges and universities are those institutions with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application. Read more

  • Massachusetts State Universities Equal Opportunity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Plan

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: October 2, 2021

    Discriminatory harassment. A form of unlawful discrimination including verbal and/or physical conduct based on legally protected characteristics and/or membership in a protected class that: 1. has the purpose or effect of creating an objectively intimidating, hostile or offensive work or educational environment; 2. ... Read More

  • Community Standards: Advertising Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
    Last updated: October 2, 2021

    All flyers, banners, and table tents require approval from the Office of Student Engagement before being displayed. … Advertisements may only be placed in approved areas. Displaying advertisements on windows, doors, walls, and in bathrooms is prohibited. Read More

  • Community Standards: Interpersonal Misconduct

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: October 2, 2021

    Intimidation, threat, or harassment: Conduct less than a physical attack or physical action which interferes with a person in the conduct of their customary or usual affairs, or conduct which is sufficiently severe or pervasive to unreasonably interfere with an individual’s work or academic performance, or cre... Read More

  • Community Guidelines: Solicitation, Posting Policy & Private Enterprise

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
    Last updated: October 2, 2021

    The Director of RPS reserves the right to refuse permission to advertise events or services that promote the use of alcohol or are insensitive to members of the campus community. Read More

  • Community Standards: Free Speech & Assembly

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
    Last updated: October 2, 2021

    All students have a right to demonstrate on College premises provided no such demonstration shall materially disrupt class, work or other College business or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others. … There shall be no interference with a demonstration on the grounds of content of spe... Read More

  • MA State Universities Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: October 2, 2021

    Section V.1 Title IX Prohibited Sexual Harassment (a) Sexual Harassment The Universities prohibit, under this Policy, conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following conditions: … Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it... Read More
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • ‘Speech Code of the Month’ in ‘The FIRE Quarterly’

    May 25, 2007

    As Torch readers know, each month, FIRE features a college or university with a particularly egregious speech code as its Speech Code of the Month. We use Speech Code of the Month to educate the public about the ever-present problem of speech codes on campus, but the feature also helps put public pressure on these… Read more

  • New Speech Code of the Month Website Feature

    April 13, 2007

    FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month program has been an important vehicle for change. Since June 2005, five universities—Albertson College of Idaho, the University of Nevada at Reno, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Jacksonville State University, and the University of Mississippi—have changed their policies after being named Speech Code of the Month. In addition, the… Read more

  • Victory for Free Speech at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

    January 16, 2007

    Students at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts are much freer today than they were a year ago, thanks to a significant revision in university policy. Since being named FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month in January 2006, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) has dramatically changed its policies. This victory for free expression follows a… Read more

  • Speech Code of the Month: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

    January 3, 2006

    FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for January 2006: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. The Student Handbook at Massachusetts College for Liberal Arts (MCLA), a public institution bound by the First Amendment, contains a Picketing Policy that provides as follows: “There shall be no interference with a demonstration on the grounds of content… Read more