State University Of New York – University at Buffalo

Student Life Gateway: Guidelines For Reporting Bias-Related Confrontations and Incidents

Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: September 7, 2018

An act of intolerance is any attempt to injure, harm or harass a person because of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, gender, pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status, familial status, veteran status, military status, domestic violence victim status or ex-offender status.

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An act of intolerance differs from other acts of intimidation or criminal behavior because it is motivated by hatred of the characteristics or beliefs of the victim. Acts of intolerance are conscious, deliberate behaviors in contrast to insensitive acts, which may be the result of lack of awareness.

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Students are encouraged to report all types of bias-related incidents precipitated by intolerant behaviors.

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Student Code of Conduct: Proscribed Conduct- Computer Abuse

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 7, 2018

8. COMPUTER ABUSE –

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E. Use of computing facilities and/or e-mail to send obscene or abusive messages.

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Policy Library: Discrimination and Harassment Policy

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 7, 2018

Harassment

Conduct that is unwelcome, severe, pervasive, or persistent enough to interfere with an individual’s employment, education, or other access to university programs and activities, and that is targeted toward an individual or group based on a protected factor, including race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, gender, pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status, familial status, veteran status, military status, domestic violence victim status, and ex-offender status; harassment is a form of discrimination.

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Sexual Harassment

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when: …  such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive University environment.

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Statement of Freedom of Expression: Picketing and Assemblying

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 7, 2018

The University supports individual’s rights to assemble. Public assemblies (protests, picketing, etc.) are allowed. Those members of the University community who feel compelled to express their dissent through picketing and other forms of demonstration must adhere to the following parameters:
(a) Picketing and assembling must not violate the provisions of the Rules for the Maintenance of Public Order of the SUNY Board of Trustees. These rules are available at: http://www.suny.edu/sunypp/documents.cfm?doc_id=351.
(b) Picketing and assembling must following campus guidelines, including:
(i) Picketing and assembling must be orderly at all times and should in no way jeopardize public order or safety or interfere with the University’s programs.
(ii) Picketing or assembling must not interfere with entrances to buildings or the normal flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.
(iii) Those involved in picketing or assembling may not interfere by mingling with organized meetings or other assemblies.
(iv) Picketing or assembling may not obstruct or physically interfere with the integrity of the classroom, the privacy of the university housing, or the functioning of the physical plant.
(v) Amplifying equipment is prohibited.
(vi) Indoor picketing or assemblies may be granted permission to assemble or hold a demonstration or assembly within a specified area within: Student Union, Harriman Hall
(vii) Any person or group may contact the Office of Campus Life (phone: 716- 645- 2055) to inquire about space reservation on the property of the University at Buffalo.
(viii) Assemblies cannot last more than one day, duration not to exceed 12 hours in one day. No overnight assemblies/assemblies are allowed.
(ix) Indoor and outdoor encampment is prohibited.

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Freedom of Expression

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 7, 2018

The University at Buffalo strives to create an environment in which diverse opinions can be expressed and heard.  As a public university, it is a fundamental value of UB that all members of the campus community and their invited guests have a right to peacefully express their views and opinions, regardless of whether others may disagree with those expressions. This includes the right of protesters to oppose the views or opinions of others, but not in such a way as to limit or prevent the speaker’s freedom of expression or interfere with university operations.

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FS Resolution on Freedom of Expression Statement for the University at Buffalo

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 7, 2018

Whereas the University at Buffalo is a public forum for ideas, some of them unpleasant to many and many of them unpleasant to some,

Therefore be it resolved that because the University at Buffalo (UB), SUNY is committed to free and open inquiry in all matters, it guarantees all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn. Except insofar as limitations on that freedom are necessary to the functioning of the University, the University at Buffalo fully respects and supports the freedom of all members of the University community to discuss any problem that presents itself.

Resolved that the ideas of different members of the University at Buffalo community will often and quite naturally conflict. But it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive. Although the University at Buffalo greatly values civility, and although all members of the University community share in the responsibility for maintaining a climate of mutual respect, concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as a justification for closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our community.

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Resolved that the University at Buffalo’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed. It is for the individual members of the University community, not for the University at Buffalo as an institution, to make those judgments for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose. Indeed, fostering the ability of members of the University community to engage in such debate and deliberation in an effective and responsible manner is an essential part of the University at Buffalo’s educational mission.

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Student Code of Conduct: Proscribed Conduct- Harassment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 7, 2018

18. HARASSMENT –

A. Threatening or intimidating a person creating a rational fear within that person.
B. Engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts directed at another person which would seriously annoy a rational person.
C. Creating a condition which endangers or threatens the health, safety or welfare of another person.
D. Physically restraining or detaining another person, or removing any person from any place where he or she is authorized to remain.

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Student Code of Conduct: Preamble

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 7, 2018

A university, especially a State University subject to constitutional requirements, must guarantee students the rights which the society and its laws protect. An American university guarantees its students these rights on a campus.

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Student Code of Conduct: Proscribed Conduct- Sexual Harassment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 7, 2018

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that unreasonably interferes with an individual’s performance and/or access to educational opportunity by creating an intimidating, hostile, or objectively offensive University environment.

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To fight bias, colleges are employing literal speech police

February 23, 2017

By Toni Airaksinen at USA Today When students see something that makes them uncomfortable, hurt or offended, on many campuses they can report that language to the administration — in particular, to something called a bias response team… Read more here.

Conservative And Libertarian Messages Require High ‘Security Fees’ On Campus

June 10, 2015

By Matt Lamb at The College Fix ANALYSIS Restrictions on student speech, such as free speech zones, often hit groups across the ideological spectrum in roughly the same way. Conservative and libertarian groups, however, sometimes get an odd choice from campus administrators: You can speak, but it’ll cost you. Messages that could theoretically provoke violence because they stir up such strong emotions seem to be a favorite target of the pay-to-play option on campus. It’s only when watchdog groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) intervene that administrators back down, according to […]

Buffalo State U. Student Govt BECLOWNED After Failed Press Censorship Gambit

April 5, 2015

By Eric Owens at The Daily Caller The petty tyrants who run the student government at the State University of New York College at Buffalo tried to freeze the student newspaper’s budget over a satirical April Fool’s Day edition. This censorship effort failed quickly, utterly and hilariously. The action began on Wednesday — April Fool’s Day — when student government officeholders at taxpayer-funded SUNY Buffalo State whimsically froze the budget of The Buffalo State Record, the campus newspaper. In the classic, almost trite, tradition at American college campuses, the newspaper had published an April 1 edition. It was called “The […]

Report: Despite student’s successful lawsuit, due process concerns remain at SUNY Buffalo

November 13, 2018

In July, a New York state appellate court ruled that the State University of New York at Buffalo violated a student’s due process rights when it disciplined him for harassment and weapons possession without “any evidence, much less substantial evidence,” of his guilt. The plaintiff in the case, Tyrone Hill, alleged that he was the victim of mistaken identity, and that the person who had pointed an Airsoft gun at several freshman members of UB’s football team was not Hill but rather one of his football teammates, Zachary Lefebvre. Although the police did not charge Hill in the incident, UB […]

New York court chastises University at Buffalo in ruling for student in due process case

July 12, 2018

On July 6, a New York court ruled that the State University of New York at Buffalo violated the due process rights of a student found responsible for misconduct by the school. The decision criticizes UB’s failure to afford due process rights and reminds universities of the importance of ensuring fundamental fairness in their disciplinary proceedings. The case involves an undergraduate student at UB, Tyrone Hill, who was found responsible for harassment and for possessing a weapon. According to Hill, he was receiving a ride home from his UB football teammate, Zachary Lefebvre, when a group of freshman football players […]

Administrators take heed: Don’t let others do your dirty work for you

June 13, 2017

Earlier this month, the State University of New York at Buffalo settled a lawsuit that was filed back in June 2013 by UB Students for Life, two student officers of UB Students for Life, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, and Center for Bio-Ethical Reform employees. As reported by The Buffalo News: The civil suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, accused UB of violating the free speech rights of pro-life advocates who organized the genocide rally and display outside the Student Union in April of 2013. The mural display featured images of aborted fetuses and linked abortion to the […]

FIRE Chairman Calls Out Northeast Colleges in Annual ‘Muzzle Awards’

July 6, 2015

Each summer for the past eighteen years, FIRE Co-founder and Chairman Harvey Silverglate has announced the winners of his annual “Campus Muzzle Awards”: colleges and universities in the Northeast stifling campus discourse in particularly outrageous ways. Along with myself and fellow research assistant Timothy Moore, this year, Harvey has written about incidents at Brown University, SUNY Buffalo State, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Norwich University, and Harvard Law School. As always, a key theme is students’ and administrators’ desire to shield themselves from uncomfortable speech or ideas. Regarding the incident at Harvard Law School, Harvey writes: The campus “disinvitation” trend forces […]

Belief-Based Student Groups Score a Win at SUNY – Buffalo

August 15, 2012

For some time now, Vanderbilt University has been ground zero in the battle to decide whether belief-based student groups on college campuses will be allowed to make membership and leadership decisions that are influenced by their core beliefs. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, this has been a thorny legal issue, one that has come to a head at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt has taken a firm stance against student groups’ belief-based decisionmaking, enacting an extreme policy that even forbids religious groups from requiring their leaders to lead Bible studies, prayer, or worship. […]

University at Buffalo Responds to Speech Code of the Month Inquiry

January 30, 2009

FIRE supporter and New York state resident Lee Brink recently wrote to University at Buffalo (also known as SUNY-Buffalo) President John Simpson to ask about the university residence halls’ Statement of Civility, which FIRE named our Speech Code of the Month for January 2009. The Statement of Civility provides that: Students are expected to act with civility. To be civil means to be courteous and polite or, simply put, to be mannerly.  Acts of incivility — whether verbal, written, or physical — will not be tolerated by the Residential Life community. In an e-mail to President Simpson, Brink asked: What […]

January 2009: University at Buffalo

January 6, 2009

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for January 2009: University at Buffalo (also known as SUNY Buffalo). According to the Statement of Civility in the university’s Guide to Residence Hall Living, Students are expected to act with civility. To be civil means to be courteous and polite or, simply put, to be mannerly.  Acts of incivility — whether verbal, written, or physical — will not be tolerated by the Residential Life community. This policy impermissibly restricts students’ right to freely express themselves in the residence halls, which are the closest thing students have to their own homes while […]