School Spotlight
Middlebury College
Location:
Middlebury, Vermont
Type:
Private
Speech Code Rating
Middlebury College has been given the speech code rating Red. A red light university has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.
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Civil Rights and Title IX Office: Policies, Laws, and Procedures- Definitions
Speech Code Rating: Red
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 22, 2021Harassment “based on an individuals actual or perceived sex” includes sexual harassment. Some common examples include: touching or grabbing a sexual part of a person’s body; touching or grabbing any part of a person’s body after that person has indicated, or it is known or reasonably should be known, that such phys... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Respectful Behavior
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: August 22, 2021Middlebury expects all members of the Middlebury community, as well as visitors, to respect the dignity, freedom, and rights of other persons. Violence in word or deed against another; incitement or provocation to violence; negligent or reckless use of physical force; conduct that may reasonably be expected to explo... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Demonstrations & Protests Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: August 22, 2021Anyone who wishes to stage a demonstration or protest at any event on Middlebury property should contact and arrange a meeting with Public Safety to discuss policy, demonstration-specific regulations, and safety issues. Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Community Bias Response Team Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: August 22, 2021The Community Bias Response Team (CBRT) is charged with assessing and communicating an appropriate and comprehensive institutional response to bias incidents and acts of intolerance involving students. The CBRT will involve other members of the community in its response when appropriate. The CBRT’s goal is to take a... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Policies Governing Student Conduct, Residential Life, and Student Organizations- Introductory Matters
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: August 22, 2021Middlebury’s Student Life policies are meant neither to proscribe nor to inhibit discussions, in or out of the classroom, of complex, controversial, or sensitive matters, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, ethnicity, religion, marital status, place of birth, ancestry, nati... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: General Conduct Policy- Respect for Persons
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: August 22, 2021[B]ehavior that violates common standards of decency, fails to comply with local laws or statutes, or demonstrates contempt for the generally accepted values of the intellectual community is prohibited. Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Non-Discrimination Investigations & Resolutions Procedure
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 22, 2021Harassment is defined as verbal, written, visual, or physical conduct based on or motivated by an individual’s actual or perceived race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex (includes pregnancy, ch... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Information Technology- Responsible Use of Computing and Network Facilities
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: August 22, 2021Abusive or threatening messages to others can be prosecuted as harassment. … All users of our computing and networking facilities bear the responsibility to avoid libel, obscenity, undocumented allegations, attacks on personal integrity, and harassment. Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Student Organization Policies- Freedom of Inquiry and Expression
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes
Last updated: August 22, 2021Student organizations bear full responsibility for arranging and financing any Department of Public Safety services that may be necessary in connection with controversial speakers. The DOS has the right to receive full and accurate information regarding Department of Public Safety measures at any time they so reques... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Policy on Open Expression
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: August 22, 2021Middlebury is a community of learners that dedicates itself to creating a world with a robust and inclusive public sphere, including on our campuses. A robust and inclusive public sphere is one where all voices can be heard and have the opportunity to contribute to the conversation. Middlebury’s mission is to prep... Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Non-Discrimination Investigations & Resolutions Procedure
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: August 22, 2021Middlebury is a community of learners and as such recognizes and affirms that free intellectual inquiry, debate, and constructive dialogue are vital to Middlebury’s academic mission and must be protected even when the views expressed are unpopular or controversial. Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Demonstrations & Protests Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: August 22, 2021Students, student organizations, faculty, and staff at Middlebury College are free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly and privately. Read MoreMiddlebury College Handbook: Non-Discrimination Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 22, 2021In accordance with Federal law and the Title IX regulations issued in May 2020, all Title IX Sexual Harassment prohibited by this policy is investigated and adjudicated using Middlebury’s Title IX Investigation & Resolutions Procedure, which applies to: … Severe, pervasive and objectively offensive sexual ... Read More
FIRE surveyed roughly 37,000 students at 154 colleges and universities about the climate for free speech at their institutions. In 2021, FIRE released rankings of those schools, based on a number of factors, including openness, tolerance, self-expression, administrative support for free speech, and campus policies, scoring overall speech climate on a scale from 0-100. See the full report on FIRE’s 2021 College Free Speech Rankings for more information.
Rankings |
|
| Overall Ranking | 140/154 |
| Ideological Diversity | 138/159 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 53.8 |
| Openness | 10.58 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 11.53 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 6.51 |
| Administrative Support | 6.05 |
| Comfort | 15.65 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.48 |
| Speech Climate | |
| Supported Scholars | |
| Sanctioned Scholars | |
| Successful Disinvitations | |
| Speech Code | RED |
FIRE names America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2020
January 29, 2020
These 10 colleges represent the worst campus censors over the last year Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute receives Lifetime Censorship Award PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 29, 2020 — Who are the worst campus censors? The competition is stiff, but today the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released its annual list of America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free… Read more
10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2020
January 29, 2020
Since 2011, FIRE has named and shamed 65 individual colleges and universities as America’s worst for free speech. Some — we’re looking at you Harvard, DePaul, and Syracuse — are regulars and have appeared four or five times. Others have slunk away in embarrassment after being listed. But all have one thing in common: They… Read more
Middlebury student cleared of charges after asking questions at CIA info session
September 26, 2019
FIRE is looking more closely at several policies at Vermont’s Middlebury College following reports that a student was charged with — and later cleared of — violating the school’s rules on protest and behavior. His apparent offense? Asking questions at a Middlebury-sponsored employment information session hosted by the CIA. FIRE has reached out to both… Read more
Middlebury student government issues extremely worrying ‘proposals for community healing’
April 26, 2019
Middlebury College in Vermont has been hammered in the press over its recent administrative disinvitation of Polish scholar and politician Ryszard Legutko just hours before he was set to speak. (He did ultimately speak to one political science class when a student in the class asked the professor if Legutko could address their class. The… Read more
Middlebury administrators abandon liberal arts tradition, shut down Ryszard Legutko speech — but one political science class rises to the occasion
April 18, 2019
This needs to stop. In just the past 45 days, we’ve seen on-campus speeches across the country shut down, cancelled, or substantially disrupted by hecklers using cowbells, piles of chairs, unknown chemical substances, fire alarms, and good old-fashioned stage occupations. Now — not to be outdone — Middlebury College once again takes center stage after… Read more
Following violent protest, Middlebury begins issuing sanctions
May 5, 2017
Middlebury College has begun issuing disciplinary sanctions against students identified as participants in the violent March protest that prevented academic and writer Charles Murray from speaking on campus and left the talk’s moderator, professor Allison Stanger, with a concussion, according to The Middlebury Campus. Reporters Will DiGravio and Alex Newhouse write: As of April 17,… Read more
Murray at Middlebury: the cost of disrupting ‘provocative’ speech
April 18, 2017
Cornell University professors of human development Wendy M. Williams and Stephen J. Ceci report in The New York Times’ SundayReview column “Gray Matter” on an intriguing experiment they ran using the text of political scientist Charles Murray’s talk at Middlebury College. Wondering if his views were as “provocative” as the response seemed to indicate, they… Read more
More than 100 Middlebury faculty sign ‘Statement of Principles’ on free inquiry
March 16, 2017
Commentators have rightly wondered how the state of discourse on campus has deteriorated such that Middlebury College professor Allison Stanger was injured earlier this month during protests sparked by Charles Murray’s invitation to speak. It’s easy to fixate on what went wrong, but we should also note what went right in a potential watershed moment for… Read more
Middlebury faculty speak out
March 7, 2017
Yesterday evening, in the wake of last week’s attack on invited speaker Charles Murray and Middlebury professor Allison Stanger, the talk’s moderator, a group of Middlebury College faculty shared an open letter setting forth a set of “core principles that seem to us unassailable in the context of higher education within a free society.” As… Read more
The death of liberty on campus? Some reflections on Middlebury
March 6, 2017
By now, you have likely read about last week’s debacle at Middlebury College, where violent protests shut down a speech by academic and author Charles Murray and resulted in physical injury to Allison Stanger, a Middlebury professor who was there to moderate the Q&A portion of the event. Both Murray and Stanger have since publicly… Read more
Violent Middlebury protesters injure professor, force invited speaker to flee lecture hall
March 3, 2017
A successful heckler’s veto and an injury to a professor: that’s what academic and writer Charles Murray was met with when he arrived at Vermont’s Middlebury College yesterday to deliver a public lecture. Inside Higher Ed reports: Murray had been invited by Middlebury’s student group affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank at… Read more
Middlebury Student Paper Condemns Judicial Scrutiny of College’s Disciplinary Processes
October 5, 2015
In a shocking editorial published last week, the staff of The Middlebury Campus railed against the ability of “outside individuals” like lawyers and judges to demand basic fairness from Middlebury College’s disciplinary processes. The editorial followed a Vermont federal court’s decision to halt Middlebury’s expulsion of a student accused of sexual misconduct, pending further legal… Read more
Federal Court Halts Middlebury’s Expulsion of Student Accused of Sexual Misconduct
September 22, 2015
Last week, a Vermont federal court halted Middlebury College’s expulsion of a student accused of sexual misconduct, pending further legal proceedings. The court issued a preliminary injunction, which may be granted only when a party can show both that they have a likelihood of success on the merits and that they would suffer irreparable harm… Read more
The State of Free Speech on Campus: Middlebury College
February 8, 2013
Today, FIRE continues our blog series on the state of free speech at America’s top 10 liberal arts colleges, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Up for discussion today is U.S. News‘ fourth-ranked liberal arts college, Middlebury College. Like third-ranked Swarthmore College, Middlebury receives a “red light” rating, which means that it maintains… Read more
Middlebury Update: Students Guilty, But No Punishment for Hoax Press Release
November 5, 2012
After a six-hour hearing in front of more than 250 students, faculty, and staff members, Middlebury College will not punish the five students responsible for sending out a hoax press release in advance of a recent visit from the Dalai Lama. However, the students were found guilty of violating two Middlebury policies and will receive… Read more
At Middlebury, Embarrassing the Administration Has a Cost
October 30, 2012
Middlebury College, a private institution in Vermont, has decided to teach its students a lesson about the cost of dissent and the danger of criticizing the powers that be. Here’s the story in a nutshell: Earlier this month, the Dalai Lama visited Middlebury, and in advance of his visit, local media outlets received a press… Read more
‘MiddBlog’ on Middlebury College’s Double Standard
February 9, 2011
MiddBlog, an "alternative news and events blog for Middlebury College students," has picked up on Sam’s arguments about the college’s new videos featuring fictional character "Aunt Des." The character, described by The Chronicle of Higher Education as "a redheaded, acrylic-nailed caricature of a Greek-American New Jerseyite," stars in a new series of videos encouraging Middlebury… Read more
Middlebury College Administration Violates Its Own Speech Code
February 7, 2011
According to Middlebury College’s Anti-Harassment Policy, prohibited harassment may include the use of "stereotypes," "circulation of written or visual materials," "taunts on manner of speech, and negative reference to customs" on the basis of, among other things, "place of birth, ancestry, ethnicity" and "national origin." What, then, can we make of Middlebury’s new video campaign… Read more
May 2009: Middlebury College
May 4, 2009
FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for May 2009: Middlebury College in Vermont. Middlebury’s ironically named policy on Freedom of Inquiry and Expression provides that Student organizations bear full responsibility for arranging and financing any Department of Public Safety provisions that may be necessary in connection with controversial speakers. The policy further states:… Read more
Middlebury’s President on the ‘Value of Discomfort’
June 5, 2007
At Middlebury College’s commencement last week, President Ronald D. Liebowitz delivered the 2007 Baccalaureate Address to the school’s graduating seniors, as is customary around this time of year in central Vermont. Rather than reciting the all-too-common collage of clichés reprised in so many graduation speeches, however, President Liebowitz used his bully pulpit to focus on… Read more
Due Process at Middlebury
June 3, 2005
The Village Voice had an interesting article recently about a senior at Middlebury College who was expelled from school for allegedly entering a classmate’s dorm room without permission. The article highlights one of the major problems at many American colleges and universities: the complete lack of due process—one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the… Read more