School Spotlight
University of Illinois at Chicago
Speech Code Rating
Acceptable Use Policy
Speech Code Rating: Red
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2020Use of email 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 rig... Read MoreUIC Sexual Misconduct Policy: Hostile Environment Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2020Unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature when … such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s work or educational performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or educational environment. Read MoreUIC Policy on Open Expression Procedures: Open Expression Activities
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2020All visual communications, in whatever manner distributed, must identify the issuing person(s) or organization(s). Visual communications may be distributed by handout only at the times and places and in the manner prescribed by these procedures. … All postings must visibly bear the name of the university depar... Read MoreUIC Policy on Open Expression Procedures
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: October 15, 2020“Organized Public Speech” shall mean the organized effort of two or more individuals or a group to convey a specific message(s) and shall not encompass general conversation between or among individuals or groups. … Reservations for space in the Centers and outdoor space are made through the Office ... Read MoreResident Student Handbook: Hall Safety, Security, and Emergency Procedures- Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2020To succeed personally and academically, individuals must be able to live free from unnecessary emotional stress caused by others. Unwelcome advances or conduct (e.g., physical, psychological, verbal, written, digital-based) directed toward one or more individuals, and/or actions and behaviors that create an intimida... Read MoreResident Student Handbook: Resident Student Code of Conduct- University and Personal Property
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2020The following conduct is expressly prohibited: … Posting materials outside of the following Publicity Guide Lines. … No offensive or sexually suggestive language, pictures, graphics or drawings may appear. Read MoreResident Student Handbook: Resident Student Code of Conduct- Disruptive Behavior
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 12, 2020The following conduct is expressly prohibited: … Partaking in conduct which is disorderly, lewd, or indecent and/or creating a breach of peace. Read MoreUIC Policy on Open Expression
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 12, 2020The 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 in... Read MoreUIC Sexual Misconduct Policy: Title IX Sexual Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2020Conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to UIC’s education program or activity; … Read More
University of Illinois at Chicago: Investigation into Professor for Referencing Racial Slur on Law Exam
January 22, 2021
In December 2020, Jason Kilborn, a professor of law, included in a Civil Procedure II final exam a hypothetical fact pattern involving an employment discrimination case. The hypothetical referenced “profane expressions for African Americans and women,” identified as expurgated text (“‘n_____’ and ‘b_____’”). After the question was condemned by students, the law school issued a… Read more
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.”
10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2021
February 17, 2021
This year, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is releasing its 10th list of the “worst colleges for free speech.” Since our first list in 2011, more than 70 institutions in 31 states have found themselves named and shamed for actively working to shut down student and faculty speech rights. Each year, hundreds of… Read more
FIRE presents the 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2021
February 17, 2021
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 17, 2021 — Would you make a student homeless during the pandemic because you didn’t like something he said? Or threaten faculty doctors fighting COVID-19 with termination for speaking to the press? If you’re a campus official at one of the schools on this list, you just might! In the 10th edition of… Read more
University of Illinois at Chicago pledges to continue investigation into law prof’s exam question
February 16, 2021
Last month, FIRE sent a letter to the University of Illinois at Chicago, raising our concerns that a public statement by the university’s administration suggested it had opened an investigation into a question on a law professor’s exam. That question, a hypothetical fact pattern involving an employment discrimination lawsuit in professor Jason Kilborn’s Civil Procedure… Read more
FIRE warns University of Illinois at Chicago over investigation into law professor’s exam question
January 22, 2021
FIRE warned the University of Illinois at Chicago this week that its investigation of law professor Jason Kilborn — who used a redacted reference to a racial slur on a final exam — raises serious concerns about academic freedom. FIRE is additionally concerned by Kilborn’s subsequent suspension and urges UIC to expediently resolve the matter… Read more
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… Read more
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,… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
‘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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
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