School Spotlight

Stony Brook University

Location: Stony Brook, New York
Type: Public
Tell Stony Brook University to revise its speech policies by filling out this form.

Speech Code Rating

Stony Brook 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

Campus Climate

Overall Ranking

out of 154 colleges surveyed Read more
121

  • P106: Sexual Misconduct and Reporting Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: October 4, 2021

    Sexual Harassment is: unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome requests for sexual favors, or requests for sexual favors in exchange for some benefit and/or unwelcome verbal, physical or communicative (verbal, non-verbal and electronic) conduct of an abusive sexual nature which interferes with an individual’s work... Read More

  • Division of Information Technology: Appropriate Use of Information Technology

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: October 4, 2021

    This Policy applies to all Users of IT Systems, including but not limited to University students, faculty, and staff. It applies to the use of all IT Systems. … The following categories of use are inappropriate and prohibited: … Harassing or threatening use. This category includes, for example, display o... Read More

  • The Code of Student Responsibility: Offenses Against Persons

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: October 4, 2021

    No student shall threaten, assault, haze, intimidate, bully or otherwise physically, psychologically, verbally, or in writing by electronic means or otherwise, abuse any other person. This includes, but is not limited to, incidents of bias-related acts of assault or abuse, or any incidents of verbal, written, physic... Read More

  • Title IX Grievance Policy and Procedure

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: October 4, 2021

    For the purposes of this Title IX Grievance Policy, “covered sexual harassment” includes any conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … Unwelcome conduct that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a pers... Read More

  • P107R: Public Assembly

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
    Last updated: October 4, 2021

    Free speech and peaceful assembly are rights of citizens and are fundamental to the University as a center for open inquiry in the search for knowledge and insight. The University is strongly committed to the protection of these rights for all members of the campus community. However, these rights bring with them a ... 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 121/154
Ideological Diversity 82/159

Overall / out of a top score of 100
Overall Score 57.41
Openness 9.98
Tolerance (Liberals) 9.86
Tolerance (Conservatives) 7
Administrative Support 5.31
Comfort 15.22
Disruptive Conduct 10.04
Speech Code YELLOW
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • Stony Brook University Latest Combatant in War on Humor

    October 8, 2012

    While most of us see college athletics as a form of entertainment, many universities seem to take them a little too seriously. Stony Brook University (also known as SUNY-Stony Brook) in New York appears to be among that group. It seems the Seawolves’ athletic department didn’t think it was very funny when a campus publication,… Read more

  • Stony Brook Follows South Florida’s Playbook, Denies Funding to YAF

    March 21, 2011

    For the past few weeks, FIRE has been in contact with the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) at Stony Brook University in New York, after the group was denied recognition by Stony Brook’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG). The USG declared the group too similar to Stony Brook’s College Republicans. This puts us in territory remarkably… Read more

  • ‘The New York Times’ Looks at Middle East Controversies on Campus

    February 26, 2007

    Karen Arenson has an article in The New York Times this morning about the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” which she calls “the latest flashpoint in the bitter campus debate over the Middle East.”   The film shows anti-Western clips from Arab television programming and documentary footage of suicide bombers, at times… Read more