Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://www.uic.edu
Type: Public
Federal Circuit: 7th Circuit
University of Illinois at Chicago 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.
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University of Illinois System: Faculty and Student Employees Banned from Participating in Political Activity on Campus
September 29, 2008
In the fall of 2008, all employees of the University of Illinois system, including faculty members and graduate students, were notified by the University Ethics Office that they were prohibited under a state law from engaging in certain “prohibited political activity.”
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Red Light Policies
Acceptable Use Policy
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016Use of electronic mail and other network communications facilities to harass, offend, or annoy other users of the network is forbidden. All users need to be aware that obscene, defamatory, or any other material which violates University policy on non-discrimination will not be tolerated at UIC. The University reserves the right to take whatever action it sees as appropriate to prevent, correct, or discipline behavior that violates this policy.
Resident Student Handbook: Harassment
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016To succeed personally and academically, an individual must be able to live free from unnecessary emotional stress caused by others. Hazing, physical or emotional harassment, or behavior which other persons find intimidating, abusive, or offensive to residents or staff, will not be tolerated in a residence hall community and will result in disciplinary action.
Office for Access and Equity: Sexual Harassment
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016In education, sexual harassment is defined as any unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors made to a student by an executive member, administrative staff, or faculty member; or any conduct of a sexual nature that substantially interferes with the student’s educational performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
A hostile environment may be created through unwelcome, severe or pervasive acts:
- Sexual advances
- Fondling
- Shoulder massages
- Pinching
- Grabbing
- Lewd hand gestures
- Leering
- Suggestive comments
- Off-color jokes
- Comments on physical attributes
- Discussions of sexual exploits
- Lewd voicemail messages
- Displays of sexually suggestive pictures, photos, cartoons, screen savers
- Lewd e-mails or texts
- Sexually suggestive posts on social media
- Facebook pictures with sexual overtones
Student Disciplinary Policy: Violation of the Rights of Any Person
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016Including, but not limited to actions which are considered hazing, unlawful harassment, stalking, or coercion; actions that may cause mental or bodily harm to another person(s) or oneself; conduct that threatens or endangers the safety of others or constitutes physical or psychological abuse or intimidation; or any other inappropriate or disruptive behavior that evidences poor adjustment to the university community.
Office for Access and Equity: Sexual Harassment Poster
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016Following are examples of sexual harassment in higher education: 1) a professor who continually makes jokes of a sexual nature in the classroom ….
Resident Student Handbook: University and Personal Property
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016The following conduct is expressly prohibited: …
l. Posting materials outside of the following Publicity Guide Lines.
iii. No offensive or sexually suggestive language, pictures, graphics or drawings may appear.
Resident Student Handbook: Disorderly Conduct
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: August 25, 2016The following conduct is expressly prohibited: … Partaking in conduct which is disorderly, lewd, or indecent and/or creating a breach of peace.
Policy on Campus Demonstrations
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: August 25, 2016Individuals and groups planning a demonstration should reserve a location with the Office of Meetings and Conferences and arrange a meeting with the Dean of Students to discuss the event and the anticipated activities so that the University can take measures to prepare for the demonstration and assure public safety, including Campus Police coverage if necessary.
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There are four (4) locations on campus that may be reserved for demonstrations: the Lecture Center Plaza, University Hall Plaza, Harrison Field, and Arthington Plaza in front of UIC Student Center West. Space should be reserved at least 48 hours in advance of the event. It is requested that an earlier reservation be made if it is anticipated that the University will need to make preparations in advance of the demonstration.
Policy on Campus Demonstrations
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: August 25, 2016The University of Illinois at Chicago, in its role as an academic institution, is committed to an environment in which a variety of ideas can be reasonably proposed and critically examined. The existence of the free exchange of ideas and the expression of dissent within the University community are indications of intellectual vitality and social awareness.
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Jim Dey: Is New Emphasis on Student ‘Safe’ Spaces Putting Them at Risk?
November 29, 2015
By Jim Dey at The News-Gazette Back in February, Northwestern University Professor Laura Kipnis, disturbed about the campus environment concerning sexual harassment, emotional “triggers” and issues involving consent, wrote an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Headlined “Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe,” Kipnis’ piece challenged campus orthodoxy on these sensitive subjects. Some critics challenged her assertions, but two students did more than that. They filed a complaint alleging discrimination and retaliation with the university against Kipnis under federal law’s Title IX guidelines. The complaint was laughable on its face. But Kipnis endured months of administrative runaround trying to find out, […]
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National Sorority, Fraternity Groups Withdraw Support from Safe Campus Act
November 17, 2015
By Walbert Castillo at USA Today The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) withdrew its support Friday from the Safe Campus Act after a growing number of national sororities broke rank by distancing themselves from two controversial campus sexual assault bills: the Safe Campus and Fair Campus acts. “Our member organizations and NPC leadership have listened to the groundswell of concern among our members and are refocusing our legislative agenda. To that end, NPC is withdrawing its support of the Safe Campus Act,” NPC said in an official statement. Both the NPC and the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) — national umbrella organizations for sororities and fraternities, respectively — originally backed the […]
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Missouri Controversy Highlights Academia’s Free Speech struggle
November 15, 2015
By Aamer Madhani and Roger Yu at USA Today As college administrators across the country move to crack down on hate speech on campus, First Amendment advocates say that universities are becoming increasingly squeamish about exposing students to ideas that they may find offensive or collide with their world view In a nationwide poll published by the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale University last month, 50% of students said they often felt intimidated to offer views that differ from their classmates’ or professors’. Sixty-three percent of students said that they thought political correctness was a problem on campus, while […]
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To Combat Sexual Assault, Colleges Say Yes to Affirmative Consent
October 29, 2015
By Bonnie Miller Rubin at Chicago Tribune For Blake Bullock, talking about sex is nothing new. As a peer educator at the University of Illinois, he leads discussions on everything from birth control to sexually transmitted diseases. But recently, the conversations have taken a decidedly different turn. “We’re spending a lot of time on the nuances of consent because that’s where many students get tripped up,” said Bullock, a graduate student in social work in Champaign. “They do worry that it’s going to ruin the mood.” As sexual assault cases on campuses have moved from private matter to public […]
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Professors’ Rights to Free Speech at Risk Nationwide
November 25, 2014
By Susan Kruth and Will Creeley at The Huffington Post The University of Illinois’ controversial decision to rescind its offer of employment to Professor Steven Salaita in reaction to his Twitter commentary about Israel continues to generate headlines. Last Monday, Salaita filed suit against the university, alleging that it violated a state open records law by failing to provide his attorneys with documents relating to the decision not to hire him. Further litigation is all but guaranteed, prolonging attention to an embarrassing misstep for the university that has generated condemnation from both left and right in recent months. For free […]
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5 Free Speech Threats to Watch Out for on Campus This Election Season
September 11, 2012
In its 13 years defending free speech on colleges campuses nationwide, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), where I have worked since 2008, has won nearly 250 public victories on behalf of students and faculty. FIRE has been responsible for well over 100 reforms of unconstitutional and illiberal campus speech policies, with the total number of affected students reaching into the millions. Needless to say, in all that time FIRE has seen certain types of violations committed over and over. Now, with the linens and seersucker put away and the new school year officially in business, I thought I would […]
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FIRE warns multiple universities that political speech bans could be unconstitutional
October 22, 2008
By the Student Press Law Center The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education created a political activity policy for colleges and universities to abide by in response to a string of complaints accusing colleges across the country of silencing student and faculty political expression. FIRE, a nonprofit educational foundation, wants all public colleges and universities to acknowledge that students and student groups can express themselves politically on campus under the First Amendment and that faculty employees enjoy the right to engage in partisan political speech when occurring outside of their “employment-related” activities. FIRE released the statement of policy on political […]
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At U. of I., a question of supporting candidates on campus
October 3, 2008
By Megan Twohey at the Chicago Tribune Students and professors at the University of Illinois decided to rally for Barack Obama on the Urbana-Champaign campus Thursday to make clear their stand on an increasingly controversial question as the November elections approach: Is it legal for employees and students at state colleges to express support for political candidates while on campus? The university’s administration has sparked outrage by telling faculty, staff and graduate students that a 5-year-old state law designed to prevent state workers from campaigning for candidates on state time or with state resources meant they could not express support for […]
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U of I faces backlash after decision on campus political activity
October 3, 2008
By Megan Twohey at the Chicago Tribune Students and professors at the University of Illinois rallied for Barack Obama on the Urbana-Champaign campus Thursday – holding signs, passing out fliers and registering people to vote – to probe an increasingly controversial question as the November elections approach: Is it legal for employees and students at state colleges to express support for political candidates while on campus? The university’s administration has sparked outrage by informing faculty, staff and graduate students that a five-year-old state law designed to prevent state workers from campaigning for candidates on state time or with state resources meant […]
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U of I rally supports right to campus politicking
October 3, 2008
Claiming their rights to support political candidates are under assault, some University of Illinois faculty and students held a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on campus to make their stand clear. The rally Thursday was staged after an official school statement informing the community that a state ethics law bars state workers from political activities on university property. “They’re trying to control our bodies and our voices any time we’re on campus,” said graduate student Dan Colson. “These policies are clearly a violation of our First Amendment rights.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois sent a letter […]
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Repression of Political Speech and Activity Abounds on College Campuses in 2008
December 24, 2008
In an election year when the presidential race between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain dominated much of the country’s attention and media headlines, college and university campuses were certainly not immune to election fever. University students and faculty across the nation joined in the multitude of voices advocating for, criticizing, protesting, and otherwise commenting on the candidates and the hot-button issues of the season. With this came some regrettable consequences. This year, we witnessed a number of colleges and universities prohibiting and punishing many forms of constitutionally protected political speech and activity. While the rights of students and faculty […]
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Weekly Media Round-up: FIRE’s Policy Statement on Political Activity a Needed Voice of Reason on Campus
October 17, 2008
As Will wrote here on The Torch this Wednesday, FIRE released its 2008 Policy Statement on Political Activity on Campus this week. FIRE’s Policy Statement comes on the heels of controversial restrictions on protected political expression at such institutions as the University of Illinois, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Texas at Austin, among others. The Policy Statement has drawn praise from students, teachers, and individuals and organizations of all different interests and persuasions (not to mention some of the more than one thousand members of FIRE’s Campus Freedom Network). Greg’s most recent column at The Huffington Post discusses […]
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With Election Weeks Away, Political Speech Under Attack on America’s Campuses
October 15, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, October 15, 2008—With the presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama the focus of national attention, political speech on our nation’s campuses has come under sharp attack. In recent weeks, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has investigated open and blatant attacks on political expression at colleges and universities across the country, from a previously unreported case at Oklahoma, to better-known cases at Illinois and Texas, to cases at smaller schools across the country. This alarming trend towards silencing political expression has prompted FIRE to release a Policy Statement on Political Activity on Campus today. At […]
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Stanley Fish Misunderstands FIRE on Illinois ‘Buttons’ Controversy
October 14, 2008
Although Stanley Fish says he agrees with FIRE most of the time, in his New York Times blog on Sunday he disagreed with us on the issue of a memo from the University of Illinois that banned university faculty from engaging in political activity on campus such as attending political rallies—even when they were off the clock. After widespread condemnation of the new policy including serious concerns expressed in a letter from FIRE, President B. Joseph White reversed the most serious violations in the policy, once again permitting faculty and staff to exercise most of their political rights on campus. […]
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National Attention Continues for FIRE’s Work at Illinois
October 8, 2008
We blogged last week about the Chicago Tribune‘s coverage of FIRE’s letter in defense of political expression at the three University of Illinois (UI) campuses, where a memo circulated by UI’s ethics office banned a wide variety of political expression on campuses—down to the bumper stickers on the cars of UI faculty and staff. Instead of waiting until our usual end-of-the-week media round-up, we wanted to provide a brief update on the continued media exposure to FIRE stemming from UI as the situation has developed. Over the weekend the Associated Press, picking up on the Tribune‘s lead, covered a rally […]
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University of Illinois Responds to Widespread Complaints Against Ban on Political Activity
October 6, 2008
FIRE, the ACLU, the AAUP, the National Association of Scholars, and the Illinois Association of Scholars all agree that the recent statement by the University of Illinois Ethics Office went too far in banning political expression and participation on University of Illinois campuses. Here is the response from University of Illinois president B. Joseph White in its entirety: To: Members of the University Community From: B. Joseph White Re: A Message Concerning University Employees and the Illinois State Ethics Act I write to you today with a simple message: We, the leadership of the University of Illinois, will preserve, […]
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‘Chicago Tribune’ Highlights FIRE’s Work Defending Political Speech
October 3, 2008
An article in today’s edition of the Chicago Tribune further investigates the outrage among many at the University of Illinois over the September 2008 edition of Ethics Matter, a “newsletter from the University of Illinois Ethics Office.” The memo, which has caused widespread outrage among faculty, suggests that a whole host of political activity is simply out of bounds for faculty members. As the article reports: The university’s administration has sparked outrage by telling faculty, staff and graduate students that a 5-year-old state law designed to prevent state workers from campaigning for candidates on state time or with state resources […]
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University of Illinois Bans Wide Variety of Political Activity by Faculty
September 25, 2008
The blogosphere and other media are lighting up in response to a memo circulated to faculty and staff of the University of Illinois by its University Ethics Office. The policy bans a wide variety of political activity on university property, including such research as “surveying or conducting an opinion poll related to anticipating an election outcome” and such activity as “wearing a pin or t-shirt in support of the Democratic Party or Republican Party.” Amazingly, even political bumper stickers run afoul of the policy. Talk about overbroad. While the university has a legitimate interest, as a state actor, in making […]
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Academic Hypocrite of the Millennium
May 11, 2005
Stanley Fish, dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently discussed Ward Churchill (and other matters) in the Chronicle of Higher Education (dated May 13, 2005). He observed, correctly, “Political persuasion is just not what is supposed to go on in the college classroom, even though it may be going on—and going on legitimately—at the noontime rally or in dormitory bull sessions.” He further noted, correctly, but not going far enough, “It is not the job of a senior administrator either to approve or disapprove of what a faculty member […]
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