School Spotlight

Northeastern Illinois University

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Type: Public
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Speech Code Rating

Northeastern Illinois 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

  • Student Handbook: Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: July 12, 2022

    Unauthorized uses (some of which may also constitute illegal uses) include, but are not limited to, the following: … Downloading, displaying, posting, sending, viewing, printing, distributing, or otherwise communicating pornographic material, absent a legitimate academic or research purpose … Posting or... Read More

  • Student Handbook: Student Code of Conduct

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: July 12, 2022

    Non-academic misconduct is an act that violates the University’s rules, policies, and regulations while on campus, as well as during off-campus functions sponsored or supervised by the University… Violations of this type include but are not limited to: … Lewd, obscene, or disruptive conduct or racial/eth... Read More

  • University Policy G1.07: Equal Opportunity and Nondiscrimination

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: July 12, 2022

    Harassment is a form of discrimination. Harassment means subjecting an individual to objectively offensive, unwelcome conduct based on any of the protected characteristics, when such conduct (i) is severe, persistent, or pervasive and (ii) has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with the individual’s w... Read More

  • University Policy G1.8: Sexual Misconduct Interim Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: July 12, 2022

    Sexual Harassment: an umbrella term encompassing sexual assault, quid pro quo harassment, hostile environment harassment, stalking, dating violence and domestic violence. Sexual harassment means conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … (2) unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex... Read More

  • Northeastern Illinois University: Suppression of Affirmative Action Bake Sale

    March 8, 2005

    At Northeastern Illinois University, administrators had warned the members of the College Republicans that both the students and the group would be punished if they held a campus protest against affirmative action. NEIU Dean of Students Michael Kelly e-mailed the student organization informing them that the protest would violate the school’s nondiscrimination policy. Dean Kelly… Read more

  • Northeastern Illinois Professor Settles with University in Years-Long Retaliation Case

    February 13, 2014

    Last month, Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) Professor Loretta Capeheart’s long-running legal battle against the institution for actions taken after her viewpoints clashed with the school’s finally ended when the two parties settled under confidential terms. As my colleague Azhar Majeed reported back in 2011, Capeheart alleged that NEIU retaliated against her defense of protesting students… Read more

  • NEIU Student Government to Review Endorsement of Unconstitutional Free Speech Zone Policy

    January 19, 2009

    Ten days ago, Peter reported that a controversial and repressive "free speech zone" policy at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) has been withdrawn by NEIU President Sharon K. Hahs, who had first proposed the unconstitutional measure in November. As we have noted before on The Torch, the proposed policy was blatantly unconstitutional, demanding—among other things—a minimum… Read more

  • Rights in the News: Controversy at Southern Illinois Ignites FIRE’s 2009 Efforts

    January 16, 2009

    Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) Chancellor Samuel Goldman and his administration have been a veritable one-stop shop for newsworthy content lately, as followers of The Torch this week are no doubt aware. In one of three articles penned by Adam Testa for the Southern Illinoisan, Goldman referred to FIRE as "embarrassing" SIUC into defending… Read more

  • Northeastern Illinois University Withdraws Proposed ‘Free Speech Zone’ Policy

    January 9, 2009

    A controversial and repressive "free speech zone" policy at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) has been withdrawn by NEIU President Sharon K. Hahs, who had first proposed the unconstitutional measure in November. In an e-mail sent on Tuesday, Hahs directed that consideration of the policy be halted: I am writing to request that the A and… Read more

  • NEIU’s Proposed Speech Code on ‘Inside Higher Ed’

    December 23, 2008

    Inside Higher Ed has an article today on proposed new speech restrictions at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). The proposed policy "would require protesters to submit copies of fliers and signs to administrators two weeks before bringing them on the campus." As we mentioned last week on The Torch, the policy would also create a free… Read more

  • Questions Surround Proposed ‘Free Speech Zone’ at Northeastern Illinois University

    December 19, 2008

    Deanna Isaacs of the Chicago Reader reports troubling developments at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), a public university in Chicago. According to Isaacs, NEIU President Sharon K. Hahs has proposed instituting an unconstitutional free speech zone on the NEIU campus, with prior approval requirements that put an impermissible onus on students and faculty members seeking to… Read more

  • Speech Codes Don’t Get Enforced?

    October 15, 2007

    As Will discussed earlier, Florida International University professor Stanley Fish argues in his latest “Think Again” column for The New York Times that campus speech codes do not present as much of a problem for students as one might think. In the process of reviewing filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney’s Indoctrinate U, Fish argues that any… Read more

  • Article Highlights Partisanship of Campus Speech Codes

    September 29, 2006

    Former FIRE president David French has an article on speech codes on National Review Online today. He explains the “mental agility” of the 1960s free speech activists who have become the architects of today’s campus speech codes. David writes: Those who formerly glorified dissent clamp down on campus with a mind-numbing level of intellectual conformity…. Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • The Chill Is Nothing New

    September 9, 2005

    There is a chill on campus, but that’s nothing new. For decades, campus speech has been chilled by speech codes and other attempts to prevent expression that might offend. Some would like to imagine that the excesses of “political correctness” are ancient history, but repression in the name of tolerance hasn’t gone anywhere. Oppressive speech… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • Professor Ross Takes NEIU to Task on Censorship

    April 6, 2005

    Yesterday, after receiving our press release about the attempt to stifle free speech at Northeastern Illinois University, a principled and eloquent advocate of free speech on campus, Professor David S. Ross, wrote to the president and administration of NEIU to get their side of the story. He copied a number of people, including the attorney… Read more

  • E-mail from NEIU Dean of Students Michael Kelly to Brian Geier, April 6, 2005

    April 6, 2005

    From: Michael Kelly [mailto:mtkelly@neiu.edu] Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 3:05 PM To: ‘brian geier’ Subject: Bake Sale Dear Brian, I am confident that FIRE knows that NEIU proposed alternative methods for the College Republicans to communicate its message.  John Tait and I met again yesterday about a couple of matters, one of which was what… Read more

  • Affirmative Action Bake Sale Banned—Again

    April 5, 2005

    It’s “déjà vu all over again,” this time at Northeastern Illinois University, where administrators have threatened to punish the College Republicans if they hold an “affirmative action bake sale” satirical protest. (At these “bake sale” protests, students sell baked goods for lower prices to women and minorities to make a point about what they see as… Read more

  • Northeastern Illinois University Bans Affirmative Action Bake Sale, Threatens Protestors with Punishment

    April 5, 2005

    CHICAGO, April 5, 2005—Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) has warned the members of the College Republicans that both the students and the group will be punished if they hold a campus protest against affirmative action.  The NEIU College Republicans canceled its planned “affirmative action bake sale” protest after NEIU’s dean of students warned them in an… Read more

  • Letter from NEIU Legal Adviser Mark Dunn to FIRE, March 29, 2005

    March 29, 2005

  • FIRE Letter to NEIU Legal Adviser Mark Dunn, March 25, 2005

    March 25, 2005

    March 25, 2005 Mr. Mark T. Dunn Dunn, Stanczak, Willard, Arkell & Bugg 1001 North Main Street, Suite A P.O. Box 3488 Bloomington, Illinois 61702-3488 URGENT Sent via U.S. Mail and Facsimile (309-828-8321) Dear Mr. Dunn: Thank you for your timely response to our letter to Northeastern Illinois University President Steinberg.  We appreciate the NEIU… Read more

  • Letter from NEIU Legal Adviser Mark Dunn to FIRE, March 17, 2005

    March 17, 2005

  • FIRE Letter to NEIU President Salme Steinberg, March 8, 2005

    March 8, 2005

    March 8, 2005 President Salme Steinberg Northeastern Illinois University 5500 N. St. Louis Avenue B-159 Chicago, Illinois 60625 URGENT Sent by U.S. Mail and Facsimile (773-442-5070) Dear President Steinberg: As you can see from our Directors and Board of Advisors, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) unites leaders in the fields of civil… Read more

  • E-mail from NEIU Dean of Students Michael Kelly to John Tait, February 18, 2005

    February 18, 2005

    From: Michael Kelly [mailto:mtkelly@neiu.edu] Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 2:35 PM To: John Tait Subject: Republican Club Bake Sale Dear Mr. Tait, As I was unable to reach you by telephone, the nature of my call is as follows: My office has been informed that the College Republicans are planning a Bake Sale in Village Square… Read more