School Spotlight
University of California – Riverside
Location:
Riverside, California
Type:
Public
Speech Code Rating
University of California – Riverside 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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UCR Housing Residential Student Conduct Policies: Abuse, Threatening Behavior, Harassment, Stalking and Violence
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021Direct and indirect forms of abuse, threats, coercion, harassment, intimidation, stalking, bullying, unwanted personal contact, violence against another person or their property or causing the reasonable apprehension of physical or verbal harm, are prohibited. This policy includes but, is not limited to, physical, e... Read MoreGrounds for Discipline and Standards of Conduct: Sexual, Racial, and Other Forms of Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021Harassment, defined as conduct that is so severe and/or pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so substantially impairs a person’s access to university programs or activities that the person is effectively denied equal access to the university’s resources and opportunities. Read MoreUCR Principles of Community
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 28, 2021We as members of the University of California Riverside affirm our responsibility and commitment to creating and fostering a respectful, cooperative, professional and courteous campus environment. Implicit in this mutual respect is the right of each of us to live, study, teach, and work free from harassment or denig... Read MorePolicy Number: 700-70: Speech and Advocacy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021On University grounds open to the public generally, all persons may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression speech, assembly, worship and distribution and sale of non-commercial literature incidental to the exercise of these freedoms. … “Areas open to the public generally”... Read MorePolicy Number 700-50: Posting Regulations
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021All materials to be posted on bulletin boards and kiosks must be no larger than 8 1/2″ x 11″. Materials must clearly bear the name of the sponsoring organization or department, and must be stamped “MEETS UC RIVERSIDE POSTING POLICY” in the Campus Activities Office. Read MoreUCR Housing Residential Student Conduct Policies: Disorderly Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 28, 2021Lewd, indecent, or obscene conduct or expression (including oral, visual, and other means) is prohibited. Viewing of sexually explicit materials or engaging in sexual acts in common areas is not permitted. Read MoreUniversity of California: Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021Sexual Harassment is when: … unwelcome sexual or other sex-based conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that it unreasonably denies, adversely limits, or interferes with a person’s participation in or benefit from the education, employment or other programs or activities of the University, and creat... Read MoreUniversity of California: Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment- DOE-Covered Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021Conduct is DOE-Covered Conduct if all of the below are true: … The alleged conduct is DOE Sex-Based Misconduct, meaning it is any of the following: … unwelcome sexual or other sex-based conduct (as defined in Section II of the Policy) that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive, and objectively ... Read MoreTime, Place and Manner Ground Rules
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021Demonstrators may conduct their activities during normal business hours in the public areas of any campus facility, or any time in any outdoor public place (.e., outdoor places/spaces with unrestricted access). After-hours activities may be authorized in specific campus facilities, after consultation with the approp... 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 / out of 154 colleges surveyed |
|
| Overall Ranking | 45 |
| Ideological Diversity | 97 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 60.51 |
| Openness | 11.27 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 10.21 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 6.99 |
| Administrative Support | 6 |
| Comfort | 16.23 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.81 |
| Speech Code | YELLOW |
UC Riverside Student Government Resolves to Reform Free Speech Policy; FIRE to Help
November 7, 2013
Some good is beginning to come from the fiasco at Modesto Junior College, where administrators stopped student Robert Van Tuinen from distributing copies of the Constitution on Constitution Day because he had not booked the campus’ “free speech area” five days in advance. As reported by University of California, Riverside students Sandy Van and Winnie Jeng in the Highlander, the Associated… Read more
UC Riverside: Told You So
December 15, 2011
Just two weeks ago, writing about free speech in the University of California system, I noted: UC Riverside’s policy with the misleading name “Freedom of Speech in Promoting Events and Organizations” states that “[P]ublicity should not contain … violent images or language against individuals or groups” and goes even further to state, “When considering forms… Read more
University of California Schools Flout Student Speech Rights
November 29, 2011
While some University of California schools are facing scrutiny due to their handling of students’ exercises of free speech and civil disobedience, others in the system have unfinished business protecting students’ free speech rights in their policies. All eight of the UC universities reviewed by FIRE have “red light” or “yellow light” ratings for restricting campus… Read more
Practical Advice for Fraternities Caught in the Battle for Free Speech on Campus
September 16, 2004
I. Introduction While there is no shortage of free speech battles on college campuses, fraternities have the dubious honor of being at the center of many of the least sympathetic controversies. From Halloween parties where brothers show up dressed as Ku Klux Klan members to fraternity newsletters that graphically relate a brother’s sexual exploits with… Read more