School Spotlight
Tarleton State University
Speech Code Rating
Information Technology Services Email Use Standard
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022The following activities are prohibited: Sending email that is intimidating or harassing … Sending or forwarding chain letters Read MorePublicity & Solicitation Guidelines
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022Section 2: Publicity For the purpose of these guidelines, publicity is defined as any printed materials intended to be posted and/or displayed on Tarleton State University property. This includes but is not limited to, flyers, posters, banners, sandwich board/Aframe signs, and yard signs. Violation of this policy co... Read MoreStudent Organizations: Event Management
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022Event Management Student organizations should consult with the Department of Student Involvement, Spirit, Tradition, and Family Relations before planning any major event. Some events may require an event checklist to be completed. These include: Any program or event open to anyone outside of the organization’s memb... Read MoreCode of Student Conduct: Misuse of Computing Resources
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022Misuse or abuse of computer equipment, programs, or data including, but not limited to: … Use of computing and resources to send obscene or abusive messages. Read MoreCode of Student Conduct: Harassment/Threatening Behaviors
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: July 29, 20225.6.2 Harassment Behavior that is severe, pervasive or persistent to a degree that a reasonable person similarly situated would be prevented from accessing an educational opportunity or benefit. This behavior includes, but is not limited to, verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, and coercion. In addition, harassment ... Read MoreCode of Student Conduct: Personal Safety
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Bullying Policies
Last updated: July 29, 20225.6.5 Bullying – Defined as the use of repeated or severe verbal and/or non-verbal means in order to coerce or force a person to do something or to degrade a person, including, but not limited to, the use of taunting, teasing, or coercive language, pushing, punching, or creating threatening notes/letters/signs... Read MoreStudents’ Rights and Responsibilities
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: July 29, 2022A student shall have the right to participate in a free exchange of ideas, and there shall be no University rule or administrative rule that in any way abridges the rights of freedom of speech, expression, petition and peaceful assembly as set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Read More08.01.01 Civil Rights Compliance: Sexual harassment
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022Sexual harassment – a form of sex discrimination. Unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex (of a sexual nature or otherwise): (1) by an employee of the member who conditions the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the member on an individual’s participation in that unwelcome sexual conduct; (2) determined by a ... Read More
Tarleton State University: Texas University Covers Up Professor’s ‘Highly Inappropriate’ Behavior by Censoring Student Newspaper and Unlawfully Withholding Public Records
February 9, 2022
FIRE v. Tarleton State University – Original Petition for Writ of Mandamus This public university in Texas, one of America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech — paid a professor to leave after he was accused of booking a hotel room for himself and a female student without her knowledge during travel, and inviting another… Read more
LAWSUIT: FIRE sues Texas university for withholding public records about how it censored a student publication – then took over its editorial independence
February 10, 2022
FIRE seeks records about Tarleton State University’s investigation of a professor accused of “highly inappropriate behavior,” administrative takeover of student newspaper Lawsuit coincides with the launch of FIRE’s new Student Press Freedom Initiative to safeguard student journalism STEPHENVILLE, Texas, Feb. 10, 2022 — Did Tarleton State University censor and seize editorial control over its student… Read more
FIRE launches Student Press Freedom Initiative to fight censorship in student media
February 10, 2022
A forthcoming FIRE study found that more than 60% of college newspapers experience at least one instance of administrative censorship each year. Let that sink in. This tells us two things: First, censorship is a widespread problem in student media. Second, the current resources available to student journalists and the administrators they deal with just… Read more
10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2022
February 2, 2022
There’s no shortage of colleges and universities that will go to great lengths to stifle free speech. Some institutions are worse than others, which is why each year for over a decade, FIRE compiles a list of the worst-of-the-worst. Since our first list in 2011, FIRE has named and shamed 80 institutions in 33 statesfor… Read more
Something stinks at Tarleton: Secret documents, censorship demands, and an apparent newspaper takeover
November 19, 2021
This is a story about a public university that paid a professor — after finding that he acted in a “highly inappropriate and unprofessional” manner with at least one female student — $61,000 to leave quietly, stripped a student newspaper of editorial independence when it wouldn’t stay quiet, and has now failed to comply with… Read more
A frivolous threat of a lawsuit, then a serious threat of defunding: Student journalists at Tarleton State University are under attack
August 30, 2021
When Sierra Dyson, editor of the editorially independent student newspaper Texan News Service, received a demand letter signed by a New York attorney and threatening a lawsuit, she probably didn’t imagine things would get worse. But they did. Dyson was confident the litigation threat was frivolous, since it concerned articles that had been written some… Read more
Texas A&M journalism programs at risk after faculty advisor punished for protecting sources
October 25, 2018
The revelation that Tarleton State University is punishing a faculty journalism advisor for helping a student reporter protect the identity of her confidential sources is one that threatens the integrity of journalism programs across the entire Texas A&M University System, of which Tarleton State is a member. Earlier this year, Quanecia Fraser, a reporter at… Read more
REPORT: Artists clash with campus censors
July 10, 2018
Art purged for being “one-sided,” among other excuses Censors, often not understanding the message, ban art rather than grapple with its meaning PHILADELPHIA, July 10, 2018 — Art censorship is nothing new. Spanish conquistadors smashed ceramics of ancient Peruvian cultures that portrayed gay and lesbian sex. The Roman Catholic Church of the 15th century was… Read more