School Spotlight
San Diego State University
Location:
San Diego, California
Type:
Public
Speech Code Rating
San Diego 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.
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Employee Relations and Compliance: Sexual Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 28, 20215.2 Sexual harassment shall be any conduct, physical or verbal, that is sexual and has the effect of unreasonably interfering with a person’s or a group’s educational or work performance or that creates an intimidating, hostile, or abusive educational or work environment. … 5.4 The California Education Code, s... Read MoreStudent Organization Handbook: Freedom of Expression and the Campus Community
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: August 28, 2021While the University does not approve or disapprove student organization activities based on content, student organizations are strongly encouraged to be sensitive in selection of event themes, costumes, t-shirt designs and promotional materials that might portray an offensive or unintended stereotype based on race,... Read MoreStudent Organization Handbook: Harassment and Abusive Behavior
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Recognized organizations may not engage in any organizational activity that makes specific members of the campus community the subject of harassment, intimidation, or hostility because of their race, religion, color, ethnicity, citizenship, gender, gender identity or expression, disability, sexual orientation, or na... Read MoreCenter for Student Rights and Responsibilities: Standards for Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Use of computing facilities and resource to send obscene or intimidating and abusive messages. Read MoreCenter for Student Rights and Responsibilities: Standards for Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: August 28, 2021Students are expected to be good citizens and to engage in responsible behaviors that reflect well upon their university, to be civil to one another and to others in the campus community, and contribute positively to student and university life. Read MoreHousing and Residential Education: Your Guide to Living on Campus
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Abusive physical and verbal behavior, and threats of physical abuse toward residents, guests or staff, are violations of policy and will not be tolerated. Such conduct may be grounds for disciplinary action, removal from the residential community, eviction and criminal prosecution. Examples of prohibited conduct inc... Read MoreExecutive Order 1097: Systemwide Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation, Sexual Misconduct, Dating and Domestic Violence, and Stalking against Students and Systemwide Procedure for Addressing Such Complaints by Students
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Harassment means unwelcome conduct, based on the Complainant’s Protected Status, that is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that its effect, whether or not intended, could be considered by a reasonable person in the shoes of the Complainant, and is in fact considered by the Complainant, as limiting her/his... Read MoreInformation for Campus Network Use
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021University network resources may not be used to defame, harass, intimidate, or threaten any other person(s). University harassment policies cover all uses of the SDSU network, including email correspondence and newsgroups. Read MoreRegulations for Use of San Diego State University Buildings and Grounds
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Reservations are not required for use of campus outdoor space unless a physical structure is present (i.e., tables, chairs, canopies, tents, a-frame signs) or vehicles, drones (UAV) or sound amplification equipment are to be used. Read MoreCenter for Student Rights and Responsibilities: Standards for Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, or harassment. Read MoreExecutive Order 1097: Systemwide Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation, Sexual Misconduct, Dating and Domestic Violence, and Stalking against Students and Systemwide Procedure for Addressing Such Complaints by Students- Addendum B
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 28, 2021Sexual Harassment means conduct on the basis of Sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to an Education Program or Activity. Read More
FIRE surveyed roughly 37,000 students at 154 colleges and universities about the climate for free speech at their institutions. In 2021, FIRE released rankings of those schools, based on a number of factors, including openness, tolerance, self-expression, administrative support for free speech, and campus policies, scoring overall speech climate on a scale from 0-100. See the full report on FIRE’s 2021 College Free Speech Rankings for more information.
Rankings |
|
| Overall Ranking | 122/154 |
| Ideological Diversity | 106/159 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 57.26 |
| Openness | 9.76 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 9.99 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 6.82 |
| Administrative Support | 5.73 |
| Comfort | 15.11 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.84 |
| Speech Code | YELLOW |
San Diego State University: Professor Reassigned for Quoting Epithets, Teaching Use-Mention Distinction
March 8, 2022
On March 1, 2022, philosophy professor J. Angelo Corlett led a class discussion on the use-mention distinction and the concept of “offensiphobia” in his Critical Thinking and Composition class. He quoted racial epithets to explain that using coded language when referring to specific slurs is not proper linguistics. That evening, Corlett’s dean emailed saying he… Read more
San Diego State University: Censorship of Pro-American Student Speech
October 23, 2001
Zewdalem Kebede, an international student at San Diego State University, verbally engaged several students when he observed them expressing a pro-terrorist position in Arabic. Although Kebede was never formally charged, he was warned that future “abusive” incidents would result in, “serious disciplinary action.” FIRE responded with a letter to UCSD President Stephen Weber.
San Diego State claims to have evidence justifying its removal of a professor for referencing slurs in teaching linguistics. Let’s see it.
March 25, 2022
After San Diego State University failed to substantively respond to FIRE’s letter concerning its reassignment of professor J. Angelo Corlett for quoting slurs while teaching the use-mention distinction, Corlett’s attorney sent the university a letter yesterday calling for it to honor Corlett’s First Amendment right to academic freedom and return him to his classes. Attorney… Read more
Bitchassness, hateration, general stankness possible motives behind reassignment of San Diego State philosophy professor for teaching slurs, ‘offensiphobia’
March 8, 2022
Did you figure out from that headline something unconstitutional is afoot at San Diego State University? If you’d taken philosophy professor J. Angelo Corlett’s classes on racism, language, and ethics you’d know these charged slang terms. You’d also have gone in depth on the ethics of using slurs like “nigger” and “bitch,” whose utterances —… Read more
San Diego State University rightly defends professor under fire for providing an example of racism during lecture on racism
April 14, 2021
In order to teach students about the portrayal of racist ideology in film and television, San Diego State University professor Robert Jordan did what many professors do — he used an example to illustrate his point. As seen in a video clip of a lecture he gave about the history of discrimination onscreen, Jordan gave… Read more
Supreme Court Declines Cert in ‘Alpha Delta,’ Allowing Ninth Circuit’s Unfortunate Ruling to Stand
March 21, 2012
This week, the Supreme Court of the United States decided not to grant certiorari in the case of Alpha Delta v. Reed, declining the appeal request of two religious student organizations at San Diego State University (SDSU). The Supreme Court’s decision lets stand a 2011 ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the… Read more
A Roundup of 2011’s Free Speech Case Law
December 28, 2011
While FIRE has won numerous victories this year in working to protect individual rights on college campuses, 2011 was a mixed year for the defense of students’ rights by the courts. Importantly, this year highlighted divergent theories of the First Amendment rights of students off campus. While some courts have held that schools are limited… Read more
SDSU Speech Codes Highlighted in ‘The Daily Aztec’
October 28, 2011
In an insightful piece this week, San Diego State University (SDSU) student and The Daily Aztec managing editor Beth Elderkin investigates two of SDSU’s several “yellow light” speech codes. Elderkin interviewed our own Will Creeley, as well as UCLA law professor and constitutional law expert Eugene Volokh, who agree that the two policies in question are… Read more
Christian Legal Society Chapter Settles Freedom of Association Lawsuit with University of Montana School of Law
August 18, 2011
Less than two weeks ago, we reported on a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that held that San Diego State University did not violate the First Amendment right to freedom of association of two student groups, a fraternity and a sorority, by denying those groups official recognition (and… Read more
San Diego State University Upgraded From ‘Red Light’ Status
August 17, 2011
San Diego State University (SDSU) has been upgraded by FIRE from a “red light” to a “yellow light” school, reports the student newspaper The Daily Aztec. The change comes as the result of the complete removal of a policy that heavily restricted the content of emails sent via SDSU’s network or computers. The former policy banned… Read more
‘California Watch’: No Free Speech at California Colleges
January 7, 2011
Free speech is not safe at California colleges—not by a long shot. That’s what investigative reporter Erica Perez found in FIRE’s 2011 speech code report, as she wrote yesterday for California Watch: A new report from a national free speech advocacy organization found most of the four-year universities it surveyed had speech codes that substantially limit students’… Read more
What 9/11 Taught Us About Academia
September 11, 2006
Today, FIRE joins the rest of the nation in remembering the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Five years ago, the events of 9/11 highlighted—in a very ugly way—just how out of touch many universities are with the American public. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when much of America was still in mourning, a… Read more