School Spotlight
Rice University
Location:
Houston, Texas
Type:
Private
Speech Code Rating
Rice University has been given the speech code rating Red. A red light university has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.
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University Policies: General Policies- Rice University Policy on Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
Speech Code Rating: Red
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: May 18, 2020Harassment. Harassment is unwelcome conduct (whether physical, verbal, written, or via technology) that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, ancestry, age, disability, veteran status, or other protected cat... Read MoreCode of Student Conduct: Proscribed Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: May 18, 2020a. Mental or Bodily Harm, Reckless Action or Disregard: Intentionally inflicting or attempting to inflict mental or bodily harm on any person, including on the charged student; taking any reckless action, or showing reckless disregard, from which mental or bodily harm could result to any person, including to the cha... Read MoreCode of Student Conduct: Proscribed Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: May 18, 2020Misuse or Abuse of Computational Facilities, including: … use of computational facilities to send obscene, abusive, harassing or threatening messages or to engage in stalking behavior or to repeatedly send unwanted email to individuals; Read MoreUniversity Policies: General Policies- Campus Demonstrations, Protests and Organized Expressions of Opinion
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: May 18, 2020Those wishing to organize or stage activities covered by this policy on any University property are required to contact the Rice University Police Department (RUPD) at least 48 hours in advance of the activity to request permission to hold the activity. Because RUPD is open at all hours and also plays a central role... Read MoreUniversity Policies: General Policies- Appropriate Use of Information Technology
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: May 18, 2020Prohibited Uses … Individuals should not use University technological resources for partisan political purposes. Read MoreUniversity Policies: General Policies- Rice University Policy on Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: May 18, 2020Rice expects all members of the University community to: Be respectful of everyone and demonstrate civility toward all, regardless of position or office. Read MoreGeneral Announcements: Student Responsibility
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Other Speech Codes
Last updated: May 18, 2020The university … reserves the right to insist on the withdrawal of any student whose conduct it judges to be clearly detrimental to the best interests of either the student or the university. The appropriate authorities take such action only after careful consideration. Read MoreFaculty Handbook: Faculty Rights, Privileges, and Responsibilities
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: May 18, 2020The law recognizes in academic freedom a principal means of safeguarding free expression throughout society. In Keyishian, Justice Brennan put academic freedom at the very core of First Amendment protections. Two other justices, Felix Frankfurter in Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957) and Lewis Powell in Regents of the U... Read MoreUniversity Policies: General Policies- Campus Demonstrations, Protests and Organized Expressions of Opinion
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: May 18, 2020One of the University’s functions is to provide its community of students, faculty and staff members a forum for the safe, non-disruptive expression and discussion of diverse points of view, even when those expressions or discussions are controversial. Read More
Policies are rated on their inclusion of 10 due process safeguards. Each policy may receive 2 points for fully including that safeguard, 1 point for partial inclusion, and 0 points for no meaningful inclusion. Most, but not all, institutions have separate policies for sexual misconduct and all other misconduct. See FIRE’s Spotlight on Due Process report for more information.
Grades
Speech Code Countdown: ‘U.S. News’ Top 25 College Rankings, Numbers 19-11
October 6, 2016
FIRE’s U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” Countdown continues today. We’re giving you a school-by-school analysis of just how well America’s “Best Colleges” do when it comes to protecting free speech on campus. Unfortunately, in today’s crop of top campuses, troubling speech codes abound. As part of FIRE’s fresh look at U.S. News’ top-ranked… Read more
Rice University Student Stands Up for Free Speech in ‘The Rice Thresher’
November 22, 2011
Pro tip: If your speech silences someone else’s speech, there’s a good chance that your speech is no longer protected. That is the subject of an op-ed last week in The Rice Thresher by Rice University student Anthony Lauriello, titled "Eric Cantor protests at Rice University an affront to open discourse and free speech." According… Read more
Rice Editorial Misses the Point on Free Speech
March 27, 2009
An editorial in Rice University’s student newspaper, The Rice Thresher, recently took FIRE to task for giving Rice a "red-light" rating for maintaining policies that censor student speech. As FIRE explained in the blog post that drew the Thresher‘s attention, Rice’s red-light rating is because of its policy on Appropriate Use of Information Technology Resources…. Read more
The State of Free Speech on Campus: Rice University
March 9, 2009
Throughout the spring semester, FIRE is drawing special attention to the state of free speech at America’s top 25 national universities (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report). Today we review policies at Rice University, which FIRE has given a red-light rating for maintaining a policy that clearly and substantially restricts free expression on… Read more
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