School Spotlight

North Dakota State University

Location: Fargo, North Dakota
Type: Public
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Speech Code Rating

North Dakota State University 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

  • NDSU Policy Manual: Section 601- Code of Student Conduct, Intimidation

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
    Last updated: March 5, 2020

    Conduct in any form that involves an expressed or implied threat to an individual’s personal safety, safety of property, academic efforts, employment, or participation in University sponsored activities is prohibited. Read More

  • NDSU Bias Report Form

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
    Last updated: March 10, 2020

    NDSU is committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for the benefit of our entire campus community. NDSU’s bias reporting system provides NDSU students, staff, and faculty with an avenue to report incidents of bias, bigotry, or hate that occur on our campus or in off-campus settings that imp... Read More

  • NDSU Policy Manual: Section 156- Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Complaint Procedures

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: March 10, 2020

    Harassment – A form of discrimination; unwelcome oral, written, graphic, or physical conduct, based on one or more of the protected classes (see 2.1.1) of an individual (or group), that is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive so as to unreasonably interfere with their education, employment, or other p... Read More

  • NDSU Policy Manual: Section 162- Sexual and Gender-based Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Title IX Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: March 5, 2020

    Sexual Harassment – Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, written, graphic, physical or otherwise, when: … Such conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits, or deprives an in... Read More

  • NDSU Policy Manual: Section 601- Code of Student Conduct, Other Acts of Harassment

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: March 5, 2020

    Any unwelcome action or any series of unwelcome actions that interfere with an individual’s academic efforts, employment, personal safety, or participation in University sponsored cocurricular activities is prohibited. Read More

  • NDSU Policy Manual: Section 154- Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Assembly

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
    Last updated: March 10, 2020

    Open Public Forums – The generally accessible, open, outdoor areas of NDSU’s campus are considered open forums for free speech, subject to reasonable and constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions. If a group desires to utilize amplified sound or have exclusive use of an Open Public Forum, NDSU requir... Read More

  • NDSU Policy Manual: Section 154- Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Assembly

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: March 10, 2020

    North Dakota State University recognizes and supports the fundamental right of its students and others to free speech and expression under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the North Dakota Constitution. NDSU values and encourages the free exchange of ideas while maintaining the safety of the... Read More
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • Records reveal North Dakota State University’s responses to reports of ‘bias’

    March 30, 2017

    Christian student groups were often reported to administrators, as were comments by a professor that a student perceived to be anti-Christian. Some university records demonstrated a willingness to defend First Amendment principles, yet others indicate that administrators were willing to intervene and investigate clearly protected political and religious speech. University gave FIRE “the records” we… Read more

  • MySpace Has Administrators in a Frenzy

    June 12, 2006

    FIRE has been reporting the continued crackdown on students’ expression on Internet sites like MySpace and Facebook. While these sites have given students a new forum to express themselves and communicate with friends, they have also opened a new medium for administrative overview of students’ personal opinions and activities.   When the message boards contain… Read more