School Spotlight
Northern Arizona University
Speech Code Rating
Standards for the Appropriate Use of Information Technology Resources
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: February 26, 2019Unlawful or unauthorized uses may include, but are not limited to, harassment and intimidation of individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, sexual orientation or disability; accessing, creation, display or transmission of obscenity, child pornography or material harmful to minors as de... Read MoreStudent Life: Statement Regarding Planned Events
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 18, 2018A planned event is a rally, demonstration, march, or other group event which is organized and promoted more than one day prior to the event; this does not include spontaneous demonstrations for which there is no prior promotion or organization. Prior to sponsoring a planned event, the organization representative sho... Read MoreSafe Working and Learning Environment Policy: Discrimination
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2018Harassment is a specific form of discrimination. It is unwelcome behavior, based upon an individual’s actual or perceived protected status, where, in aggregate, the incidents are sufficiently pervasive or severe that a reasonable person with the same characteristics as the victim of the harassing conduct would be ad... Read MoreSafe Working and Learning Environment Policy: Sexual Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2018Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: … such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work, education, or participation in Board or university activities or creating an ... Read MoreStudent Life: Statement Regarding Planned Events
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 18, 2018The right to freedom of expression is protected by the First Amendment and is upheld by the Arizona Board of Regents and Northern Arizona University. Northern Arizona University supports the free expression of individual and group views on a variety of topics. The creation and maintenance of productive environments ... Read MoreArizona Board of Regents Student Code of Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 18, 2018Endangering, threatening, or causing physical harm to any member of the university community or to oneself, causing reasonable apprehension of such harm or engaging in conduct or communications that a reasonable person would interpret as a serious expression of intent to harm. … Stalking or engaging in repeate... Read More
One million students now attend colleges with FIRE’s highest free speech rating
February 26, 2019
Northern Arizona University revises policies to become 48th institution nationwide to earn FIRE’s highest speech rating Arizona becomes only state where all rated colleges earn FIRE’s best rating for free speech FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Feb. 26, 2019 — Today, Northern Arizona University earned the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s highest rating for free speech, bringing… Read more
Northern Arizona University earns FIRE’s highest rating for free speech
February 26, 2019
Northern Arizona University revises policies to become one of only 48 institutions nationwide to earn FIRE’s “green light” speech rating Arizona becomes first state where all rated colleges earn the highest rating For the first time, the number of students at schools with highest rating surpasses 1 million FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Feb. 26, 2019 — While… Read more
Student Spotlight: Beth Baumann, Championing Free Speech at Northern Arizona University
July 11, 2014
In September 2011, when Beth Baumann of Northern Arizona University (NAU) made plans to commemorate the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, she never expected to be shut down by her school. After all, who would stop students from handing out miniature American flags, pins, and bumper stickers? But when inclement weather forced her and two compatriots to move their commemoration from the courtyard outside of the student union into the building itself, they unknowingly exited the school’s free speech zone.
Speech Codes of the Year: 2005
December 29, 2005
An outrageous number of colleges and universities severely restrict their students’ expressive rights—so many that researching and analyzing these restrictions is my full-time job. As 2005 draws to a close, I would like to highlight just a few of the particularly outrageous (but, sadly, quite common) restrictions that I found in the course of my… Read more
Beating the Drum in Arizona
December 1, 2005
Back in October, Northern Arizona University “won” the distinction of being named FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month. Not surprisingly, that earned the university some bad publicity, including a newspaper editorial appropriately titled “NAU’s restrictive speech code is an unconstitutional disgrace.” And it turns out NAU’s time in the hot seat isn’t over. Its deplorable… Read more
Hey, Derek Zoolander: Stay away from Flagstaff!
November 16, 2005
Remember Derek Zoolander? Many college students do. He is Ben Stiller’s character in the 2001 comedy “Zoolander.” And it’s a good thing he didn’t attend Northern Arizona University. At one point in the movie, Derek says, “Rufus, Brint, and Meekus were like brothers to me. And when I say brother, I don’t mean, like, an… Read more
Editorial Board Denounces ‘Speech Code of the Month’ School
November 1, 2005
Troy University isn’t the only place where ghoulish speech codes are under assault from the forces of light and truth this Halloween. FIRE is happy to report that last Sunday, the East Valley Tribune editorialized against Northern Arizona University’s speech code, which was FIRE’s “Speech Code of the Month” in October. The whole editorial, appropriately… Read more
Speech Code of the Month: Northern Arizona University
September 30, 2005
FIRE announces the Speech Code of the Month for October 2005: Northern Arizona University. \Northern Arizona University, a public institution, maintains a Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy providing that “[p]rohibited harassment includes, but is not limited to, stereotyping, negative comments or jokes, explicit threats, segregation, and verbal or physical assault when any of these… Read more
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