Northwestern State University

Location: Natchitoches, Louisiana
Website: http://www.nsula.edu
Type: Public
Federal Circuit: 5th Circuit

Speech Code Rating

Northwestern 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 here.

At present, FIRE has not been involved in any cases at this school.
Yellow Light Policies

  • Student Handbook: Code of Conduct- Personal Conduct Infractions

    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 6, 2017

    Physical abuse or threat thereof, verbal abuse, bullying, harassment, domestic or dating violence, intimidation, stalking, coercion, against any person.

    » Read More

  • Student Handbook: Sexual Discrimination and Sexual Assault & Harassment Policy

    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 6, 2017

    Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature when … such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a person’s employment or education, or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment or educational environment, and has no legitimate relationship to the subject matter of a course or academic research.

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  • Student Handbook: Code of Student Conduct- Informational Infractions

    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: September 6, 2017

    Use of computing facilities to access, send, or receive obscene and/or abusive messages.

    » Read More

  • Policy on Public Speech, Assembly and Demonstrations

    Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
    Last updated: September 6, 2017

    Registration:

    • should complete specified request for event approval. (form on next page)
    • should apply at least 24-48 hours prior to the actual event date when possible and practical
    • processing for non-student groups or groups outside the campus community may take up to 72 hours
    • the Dean of Students makes every effort to approve applications quickly however applicants may not take action until an application is processed and approved.

    […]

    Place: University has designated 3 preferred locations; however, other locations may be considered Preferred locations are:

    • Student Union Plaza;
    • Prather Coliseum East Parking Lot (next to the tennis courts facing the coliseum);
    • Green Space between CAPA and Varnado Hall.

    The person or organization applying will select only 1 spot.

    » Read More

  • Student Handbook: Cyberbullying

    Speech Code Category: Bullying Policies
    Last updated: September 6, 2017

    Cyberbullying involves the use of information technology (email, websites, social networking, internet messaging, or any other technology) for hostile behavior to harm or to upset others. A person cannot easily get away from cyberbullying since using email and the internet are everyday practices. Northwestern State prohibits all forms of cyberybullying [sic].

    » Read More

Green Light Policies

  • Student Handbook: Code of Student Conduct- Introduction

    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: September 6, 2017

    As a member of the University community, a student is entitled to the freedoms and rights guaranteed to students by the Constitutions of the United States and Louisiana.

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  • Northwestern State Improves Speech Code Rating by Quickly Revising Problematic Policy

    August 26, 2016

    Northwestern State University in Louisiana (NSULA) has revised the restrictive demonstration policy that FIRE named as our August “Speech Code of the Month” just a few days ago. The university has eliminated the most problematic parts of the policy and has told FIRE it is committed to protecting free speech on campus. NSULA President Jim Henderson told FIRE today that the school’s Policy on Public Speech, Assembly and Demonstrations has been updated to better protect students’ free speech rights. President Henderson also reiterated the university’s broader commitment to students’ free speech rights. As we wrote earlier this week, the policy […]

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  • Speech Code of the Month: Northwestern State University

    August 24, 2016

    FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for August 2016: Northwestern State University in Louisiana. Universities are allowed to adopt reasonable, content-neutral, and narrowly tailored “time, place, and manner” regulations governing expressive activities on campus, but Northwestern State’s new Policy on Public Speech, Assembly and Demonstrations is anything but reasonable. Because of this policy, FIRE recently downgraded Northwestern State to our poorest, red light speech code rating. First, the policy requires students to “[a]pply at least 24–48 hours or more” before holding a demonstration or other public assembly. Next, the policy limits expressive activities to “one, 2-hour time period […]

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  • UMass Chancellor: Campus Leaders Must Encourage Debate, Not Censorship

    July 31, 2013

    Far too often, college administrators fail to recognize the value of free speech in education and instead take action to censor students’ protected expression. However, Kumble Subbaswamy, Chancellor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, commendably advocated for free speech in a recent article for The Huffington Post.  Commenting on recent free speech controversies involving Rolling Stone magazine and Northwestern University, Subbaswamy voiced his support for the freedoms FIRE works hard to defend: The Bill of Rights in the Constitution is unprecedented in its protection of free speech, even hateful speech. It is those protections that form the enduring foundation of U.S. […]

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  • FIRE Cited in University Policy, But Speech Code Gets It Wrong on ‘Cyberbullying’

    August 16, 2012

    In what may be a first, FIRE has been directly cited in a university policy regulating student expression. Northwestern State University (NSU) in Louisiana maintains a Student Handbook policy on “Cyberbullying” (PDF) that states, in relevant part:  Cyberbullying involves the use of information technology (email, websites, social networking, internet messaging, or any other technology) for hostile behavior to harm or to upset others. A person cannot easily get away from cyberbullying since using email and the internet are everyday practices. For more information on bullying, visit the following sites: […] http://the fire.org/article/12945.html While we have a lot of experience analyzing […]

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