School Spotlight
Northern Kentucky University
Speech Code Rating
Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities: Sexual Misconduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: October 5, 2021Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome, gender-based verbal or physical conduct that is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, denies or limits someone’s ability to participate in or benefit from the university’s educational program and/or activities or work environment, and is base... Read MoreCode of Student Rights and Responsibilities: Disciplinary Regulations- Offenses Against Persons
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: October 5, 2021Offenses against persons include but are not limited to: 1. Intentionally or recklessly causing physical or emotional harm to any person, including self, on University property or at University-sponsored activities off campus, and includes intentionally or recklessly causing reasonable apprehension of such harm. Read MoreAcceptable Use Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: October 5, 2021Users may NOT do the following: … Send email chain letters or mass mailings for purposes other than official University business Read MoreFree Expression Policy: Posters, Flyers, Handbills, Banners, and Chalking
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: October 5, 2021B. Posting Limits: Posters, Flyers and Banners must be date stamped at the University Center Desk Read MoreFree Expression Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: October 5, 2021Individuals or groups who desire to use campus areas for protests, rallies or demonstrations are strongly encouraged to reserve a specific area(s) in advance to ensure the availability of space. Without a reservation, the University allows campus areas to be utilized on a first‐come, first‐served basis. Protests, ra... Read MoreSexual Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: October 5, 2021Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome conduct, determined by a reasonable person, to be so severe, and pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it effectively denies a person equal access to the University’s Education Program or Activity. Read More
When Campus Intolerance Means Free Speech Gets Torn Up and Run Over, Literally
March 21, 2014
Being offended is what happens when you have your deepest beliefs challenged. And if you make it through four years of college without having your deepest beliefs challenged, you should demand your money back. I have been saying that line in speeches on campus for more than a decade. Even though it often gets a laugh, the idea that students have an overarching “right not to be offended” seems more entrenched on campus than ever.
A Canadian College Student Vandalizes Free Speech Wall, Then Claims Moral High Ground
January 30, 2013
Introducing Arun Smith, heroic censor. Last week at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, this student tore down a “free speech wall” display that a libertarian student group had set up on campus. Such displays usually take the form of a large, blank sheet of paper on which students are invited to write anything they like. Student… Read more
KFC: Kentucky Foolish Censorship
May 1, 2012
"Forget about fraternity rush, spring break, and cramming for exams," FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley writes this week in The Daily Caller. "The students and faculty of Northern Kentucky University (NKU) have brought a disturbing new tradition to campus: justifying the destruction of pro-life displays as ‘freedom of speech.’" Robert notes that since at… Read more
Northern Kentucky Students Arrested for Vandalizing Pro-Life Display
April 18, 2012
Hopefully the experiences of four Northern Kentucky University students arrested for vandalizing the display of a pro-life student group will serve as another useful lesson to those on campus who still think that destroying the expression of other students is a legitimate act of First Amendment expression. The student group in question here is Northern… Read more
Dearth of Critical Thinking on Display as NKU Library Removes Anti-Klan Artwork
April 1, 2011
A recent article in The Northerner, of Northern Kentucky University (NKU), reports that an art display has been moved from its place in an NKU library after administrators received complaints over its depiction of a member of the Ku Klux Klan. More specifically, the work is an award-winning triptych of images by NKU professor Hanz Schellhas… Read more
NKU Dean to Students: ‘That’s the problem with free speech, guys’
January 26, 2011
When discussing the possibility of increased restrictions on the rights of uninvited, non-college-affiliated speakers at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), Dean of Students Jeffrey Waple told student government officials, “[t]hat’s the problem with free speech, guys.” According to the The Northerner, an independent student newspaper at NKU, Waple was responding to concerns some students had expressed… Read more
NKU Student Thanks FIRE
May 10, 2007
We mentioned last week here on The Torch that Northern Kentucky University (NKU) had revised its free expression policies at the behest of committed students like Alex Kindell. Alex played a crucial role in organizing NKU students, raising awareness about the importance of free expression on campus, and galvanizing student support. Since Alex’s experience… Read more
Students’ Protest Leads to New Expression Policy at NKU
May 4, 2007
The Cincinnati Post reported this week that Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has adopted a new freedom of expression policy in response to student protest against proposed revisions. The news comes as a welcome and well-earned victory to the NKU students who had rallied for change on campus. Two months ago, NKU students had been… Read more
NKU Update: Mediation for Jacobsen
May 25, 2006
Remember Sally Jacobsen? As previously flagged by FIRE, Jacobsen is the recently retired Northern Kentucky University professor facing theft and criminal mischief charges for allegedly dismantling a campus anti-abortion display. Yesterday, as reported in the Cincinnati Post, a judge offered Jacobsen the opportunity to have her charges dismissed if she completes mediation with representatives from NKU, its… Read more
Heckler’s Veto Has Serious Consequences for NKU Professor
May 15, 2006
As we reported on the Torch last month, Sally Jacobsen, then a professor at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), turned the concept of free speech on its head by encouraging students in one of her classes to “express their freedom-of-speech rights” by destroying an anti-abortion display erected by an NKU student group. NKU responded quickly to… Read more
Are Pictures of Abortion ‘Hate Speech?’
May 11, 2006
Last week, Phi Beta Cons noted a story in the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald describing yet another instance of vandalism of a pro-life display. According to the Herald, Western Washington University student David Janus Zhang was so enraged by a “display showing pictures of aborted fetuses next to images of genocide” that he jumped over a… Read more
NKU Punishes Vigilante Censorship, but Its Speech Code Remains
April 19, 2006
The president of Northern Kentucky University has acted commendably in response to a serious threat to the free speech rights of students. Last week, NKU professor Sally Jacobsen encouraged a group of her students to destroy an anti-abortion display erected by the university’s right-to-life student organization. Photographs published by local media indicate that Professor Jacobsen… Read more
The Media Condemn Censorship at NKU
April 17, 2006
Today, the Cincinnati Enquirer published an editorial concerning an incident at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) where a professor invited a class “to express their freedom-of-speech rights” to destroy a “Cemetery of Innocents,” an anti-abortion display consisting of 400 crosses and a sign explaining its purpose. The editorial is right on point in saying: Northern Kentucky… Read more
Vigilante Censorship Alive and Well in Kentucky
April 14, 2006
After nearly five years of dealing with all the terrible and often absurd abuses of free speech in higher education, I am a hard person to shock, but hats off to professor Sally Jacobsen of Northern Kentucky University (NKU) for showing me the most perverted inversion of the concept of free speech I have seen… Read more