School Spotlight
University of California, Santa Cruz
Location:
Santa Cruz, California
Type:
Public
Speech Code Rating
University of California, Santa Cruz 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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Principles of Community
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 28, 2021UC Santa Cruz expects that every campus member will practice these Principles of Community. We strive to be: Diverse: We embrace diversity in all its forms and we strive for an inclusive community that fosters an open, enlightened and productive environment. Open: We believe free exchange of ideas requires mutual r... Read MorePolicy IT-0003: Policy for Acceptable Use of UCSC Electronic Information Resources
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021All users of UCSC eIRs are expected to comply with applicable laws and regulations, University and campus policies, and contractual obligations. These include, but are not limited to, the UC ECP, Section 502 of the California Penal Code, and the following specific policies and expectations. Violations may result in ... Read MoreStudent Policies and Regulations Handbook: 40.00 Policy on Use of University Properties
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 28, 202140.40 On University grounds open to the public generally, as may be described in campus implementing regulations, all persons may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech, assembly, and worship (including the distribution or sale of noncommercial literature incidental to the exercise... 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 MoreStudent Policies and Regulations Handbook: 100.0 Code of Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 28, 2021102.09 Harassment, 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. Harassment includes, but is... Read MoreReport Hate: University Principles
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: September 28, 2021The University of California, Santa Cruz expressly prohibits students from engaging in conduct constituting unlawful discrimination, harassment or bias. In keeping with the UCSC Principles of Community, we expect students and their guests to refrain from any acts or behaviors that are directed at other members of th... 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 MoreStudent Policies and Regulations Handbook: 30.00 Policy on Speech and Advocacy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 28, 2021Freedom of thought, inquiry, speech and lawful assembly are fundamental rights of all persons. These rights include: • The freedom to express opinions; • To hear, express and debate various views, no matter how unpopular; • To voice criticism. Free speech is uniquely important to the University as it brings about 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 / out of 154 colleges surveyed |
|
| Overall Ranking | 47 |
| Ideological Diversity | 105 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 60.34 |
| Openness | 11.58 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 11.13 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 6.43 |
| Administrative Support | 5.48 |
| Comfort | 16.37 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.35 |
| Speech Code | YELLOW |
University of California, Santa Cruz: Diversity Statement Requirement for Faculty Applicants
December 7, 2021
In 2021, UC Santa Cruz required applicants for many faculty roles to submit a “Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” evaluating the statements with a rubric that penalizes applicants for refusing to personally affirm the university’s views on contested social and political issues. On December 7, 2021, FIRE wrote to UC Santa Cruz,… Read more
FIRE calls on UC Santa Cruz to drop diversity statement mandate for faculty applicants
December 10, 2021
You may be an esteemed scholar or an exceptional teacher, but if you want to join the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz, you may also have to pass an ideological litmus test. UC Santa Cruz is requiring applicants for faculty positions to submit a “Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”… 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
‘California Watch’: No Free Speech at California Colleges
January 7, 2011
Free speech is not safe at California colleges—not by a long shot. That’s what investigative reporter Erica Perez found in FIRE’s 2011 speech code report, as she wrote yesterday for California Watch: A new report from a national free speech advocacy organization found most of the four-year universities it surveyed had speech codes that substantially limit students’… Read more
Five University of California Campuses Missed the Memo on New Discriminatory Harassment Policy
March 19, 2010
As the great UC San Diego free speech crisis unfolded, I noticed that UCSD had missed the memo from President Mark C. Yudof regarding the new Universitywide discriminatory harassment policy as of October 2009. (FIRE has a good idea about exactly why the policy was changed at that time, but that is a story not… Read more