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Location: Hoboken, New Jersey
Website: http://www.stevens.edu
Type: Private
Federal Circuit: 3rd Circuit
Stevens Institute of Technology 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. Read more here.
Red Light Policies
Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: April 4, 2017While the Internet is considered a public electronic highway, the Stevens network is a private resource. As such, access and use of the network must [be] in accordance with Stevens’ rules and policies as well as all legal regulations. Therefore, the following actions are strictly prohibited:
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* Use of offensive or discriminatory language.
* Transmission of any graphic image, sound or text that is sexual in nature.
*Harass, threaten, or otherwise invade the privacy of others.Student Handbook: Policies and Procedures for Preserving Academic Freedom
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: April 4, 2017The following are set forth in the interest of ensuring due consideration of the privileges and obligations of all members of the Stevens community, undergraduate, graduate, faculty and staff:
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3. Peaceful demonstrations or similar actions will be allowed on the Stevens campus by Stevens personnel provided:
a. Such actions do not interfere with the normal operations and activities of the Institute.
b. Vile or offensive language is not used, either in oral or written form.
c. There is no harassment of individuals, either of a physical or oral nature.
d. There is no impairment or destruction of property.
4. Requests by student organizations or individual students for the use of Stevens property must go through the Student Government Association for approval. Similar requests from faculty or staff members are to be sent directly to the Wesley J. Howe Center Office with the approval of the appropriate department head.
Policies and Rules of the Residence Halls: Public Displays and Postings
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: April 4, 2017Residents are not permitted to post, hang or display anything that may be deemed offensive or inappropriate by any student, administrator or guest. This includes but is not limited to posters, flyers and white-board messages in hallways, on doors or anywhere visible from the exterior. It is the responsibility of all residents to confirm with the Office of Residence Life that any item to be posted is allowed, prior to posting.
Student Handbook: Student Code of Conduct
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: April 4, 2017All individuals shall conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the mission of the university. Students are expected to demonstrate integrity by maintaining an ongoing dedication to honesty and responsibility, to demonstrate trustworthiness by acting in a reliable and dependable manner, and to show respect by treating others with civility and decency. Any student who fails to conduct themselves in such a manner violates this code and a disciplinary sanction may be imposed.
Student Handbook: Student Code of Conduct- Disruptive Conduct
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: April 4, 2017Computer abuse – this includes but is not limited to … disruptive or annoying behavior on the College’s computer system.
Student Handbook: Student Code of Conduct- Abuse and Harassment
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: April 4, 20171. Abuse and Harassment
a. Physical or violent verbal abuse of any person.
b. Conduct that threatens or endangers the physical or mental health or safety of any person including oneself.
c. Actions that amount to intimidation or harassment (physical or verbal).
d. Harassing, in person, by telephone, in writing, or by other means, annoying or alarming another person, attempting or threatening to strike, kick or otherwise subject another person to physical contact, addressing abusive language to any person, following a person in or about an university location or locations, or engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts that alarm or seriously disturb another person.
e. Abuse, harassment, or violence that is motivated by bias or hate.
Policies and Procedures for Preserving Academic Freedom on the Stevens Campus
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: April 4, 2017Experience of the academic world indicates the desirability of reducing to writing the principles and policies relating to on-campus expressions of opinions or demonstrations. The following are set forth in the interest of ensuring due consideration of the privileges and obligations of all members of the Stevens community – undergraduate, graduate, faculty and staff:
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Stevens Institute of Technology’s central functions of teaching, learning, research, and scholarship depend upon an atmosphere in which freedom of inquiry, thought, expression, publication, and peaceable assembly are given the fullest protection. Expression of the widest range of viewpoints is encouraged, free from institutional orthodoxy and from internal or external coercion.
Policy on Gender-Based and Sexual Misconduct
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: April 4, 2017C. Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature or on the basis of sex, including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, acts of sexual violence, or other verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct, when one of the following conditions is present: … • The conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits, or denies an individual’s participation in or benefit from any educational experience, working conditions or campus living conditions by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment when viewed from a subjective and an objective perspective.
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Examples of sexual harassment, if sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive, include, but are not limited to:
• Pressure for sexual activity, sexual favors or a romantic or intimate relationship;
• Unwelcome touching of a person’s body, hair or clothing;
• Verbal abuse or hostile behavior such as insulting, teasing, mocking, degrading or ridiculing another person or group based on gender or sex;
• Unwelcome jokes, comments or questions about gender or sex (including favorable comments about someone’s gender, body, clothing, appearance);
• Asking about a person’s sexual activities or interests;
• Repeatedly asking for a date or making other romantic or sexual advances after the person has said “no”;
• Nonverbal behavior, such as making sexual gestures with hands or through body movements;
• Displaying sexually discriminatory or explicit posters or pictures; and
• Electronic and other forms of communications including e-mail, text messaging and internet use, that violate this Policy.
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Why Did Stevens Institute of Technology Eliminate Free Speech Protections?
April 19, 2010
If you are a student at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, you should be aware that your university has eliminated significant protections for free speech from its Student Handbook. The list of “student rights” in previous versions of the Handbook included the “constitutional rights of freedom of expression and assembly, and the rights of freedom of press for all student publications” as well as the “freedom to write and distribute printed material for reasons that are not commercial without the exercise of prior restraint.” In the 2009-2010 Student Handbook, those two rights are notably absent from the list […]
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Happy Valentine’s Day—Harasser!
February 14, 2006
Today, as we all know, is Valentine’s Day. It’s a day for love, mushy cards, chocolate, flowers, hearts, romantic dinners, and—harassment. Or at least that’s what many university administrators seem to think. Take, for example, Stevens Institute of Technology, FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month school for December. Stevens bans “comments regarding a person’s attire, body or reputation” under its sexual harassment policy. One might wonder, then, why The Vagina Monologues, which includes segments on such topics as “what my vagina smells like,” is being performed there next week. Watch out for those “comments regarding a person’s…body”! And […]
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Speech Codes of the Year: 2005
December 29, 2005
An outrageous number of colleges and universities severely restrict their students’ expressive rights—so many that researching and analyzing these restrictions is my full-time job. As 2005 draws to a close, I would like to highlight just a few of the particularly outrageous (but, sadly, quite common) restrictions that I found in the course of my research this year. These institutions should be ashamed of themselves. Stevens Institute of Technology provides students with a laundry list of behaviors that constitute sexual harassment, including “sexist jokes,” “comments regarding a person’s attire,” “displaying or discussing materials pertaining to males or females in a […]
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Speech Code of the Month: Stevens Institute of Technology
December 1, 2005
FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for December 2005: Stevens Institute of Technology. Although Stevens is a private institution, it promises its students “[t]he constitutional rights of freedom of expression and assembly” and “the right of freedom to hear and participate in dialogue and to examine diverse views and ideas.” Unfortunately, Stevens maintains a sexual harassment policy that strips students of the very rights it promises. Stevens’ policy goes into great detail about the various types of speech it bans. It bans “sexual/sexist jokes,” “comments regarding a person’s attire, body or reputation,” “propositions,” “offensive sexual flirtations,” and “displaying […]
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