School Spotlight
University of Kentucky
Location:
Lexington, Kentucky
Type:
Public
Speech Code Rating
University of Kentucky 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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Administrative Regulation 4:10: Code of Student Conduct- Bullying and Cyberbullying
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Bullying Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021Bullying, including Cyberbullying, is repeated or hostile behaviors that a reasonable person would find intimidating or that would harm or distress another person, but fall short of being harassment. This provision shall not be used to discipline Students for speech protected by the First Amendment. Read MoreBias Incident Report Form
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: September 11, 2021This form serves as an official report to the University of Kentucky regarding an incident or incidents of bias, hate, bigotry and/or identity-based violence. … TAKE ACTION reports are forwarded on to the appropriate University official for further review and/or possible investigation, which could be but is no... Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 9:2: Regulations Governing the Use of Facilities by Registered Student Organizations
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021Members of the student body, faculty, and/or staff of the University may distribute on behalf of registered student organizations free-of-charge non-commercial announcements, statements, or materials at any reasonable outdoor area on the campus. Such distribution must be consistent with the orderly conduct of Univer... Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 4.10: Code of Student Conduct- Standards of Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021Harm and Threat of Harm includes physical abuse, verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, force, or other conduct that causes injury or a reasonable expectation of injury to the physical or mental health or safety of another person. Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 6:1: Policy on Discrimination and Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021Harassment, a form of discrimination, is unwelcome conduct that is based on [race, color, national origin, ethnic origin, religion, creed, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, uniformed service, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, g... Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 6:2: (Interim) Policy and Procedures for Addressing and Resolving Allegations of Sexual Harassment Under Title IX and Other Forms of Sexual Misconduct
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021“Sexual Harassment” for Title IX Purposes “means conduct on the basis of sex that occurs in the University’s education program or education activity and satisfies one or more of the following: … Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it ef... Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 4.10: Code of Student Conduct- Standards of Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it substantially interferes with the ability of a person to work, learn, live or participate in, or benefit from services, activities, or privileges provided by UK. This provision shall not be used to discipline students for... Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 9:1: Regulations Governing Time, Place, and Manner of Meetings, Demonstrations, and Other Assemblies (Interim Regulation)
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 11, 2021Planned or spontaneous demonstrations, meetings, or assemblies may be conducted in those appropriate areas of the campus that are regularly available to the public, provided such demonstrations, meetings, or other assemblies: A. Are conducted in a lawful and peaceful manner; B. Do not prohibit vehicular or pedestria... Read MoreAdministrative Regulation 4:10: Code of Student Conduct- Right of Free Expression
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 11, 2021A Student has the right to engage in discussion, to exchange thought and opinion, to speak, write, or print freely on any subject, and to join associations in accordance with the guarantees of federal or state Constitutions. 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 | 96 |
| Ideological Diversity | 39 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 58.93 |
| Openness | 9.6 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 9.17 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 7.67 |
| Administrative Support | 6.21 |
| Comfort | 16.35 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.93 |
| Speech Code | YELLOW |
University of Kentucky: Students Investigated For Viral ‘No Uterus, No Opinion’ Remarks
February 3, 2022
On February 2, 2022, the University of Kentucky announced via Twitter that it would initiate an investigation into “students displaying mocking behavior” after a viral video depicted students criticizing pro-life demonstrators and telling a pro-life protester: “No uterus, no opinion.” The next day, FIRE wrote to the university, explaining that those students’ counterprotest is protected… Read more
One size doesn’t fit all: FIRE files amicus brief to challenge expansive grants of qualified immunity to university officials
March 2, 2022
A university requires a professor to publicly say something he doesn’t believe, and the professor refuses. The university fires him. A district court holds the university’s actions violated the First Amendment, but then rules that the administrators responsible for punishing the professor aren’t liable. The culprit in denying the professor a remedy for the deprivation… Read more
[UPDATED] University of Kentucky violates state, federal law by vowing to investigate students over viral, ‘No uterus, no opinion’ video
February 3, 2022
UPDATE (Feb. 4, 2022): The University of Kentucky tells FIRE it “is not investigating and has no plans to investigate the incident. To do so would betray the very purpose of the institution.” The university says its tweets saying an investigation was underway were “inartfully worded.” FIRE thanks UK for the timely response. Student to… Read more
Student press gets big win as Kentucky Supreme Court sides with student newspaper
April 5, 2021
The Supreme Court of Kentucky has ruled that the University of Kentucky acted improperly when it prevented student newspaper The Kentucky Kernel from accessing records about a Title IX investigation that implicated a professor. The March 25 ruling marks a huge victory in a tale that, at this point, feels about as old as time… Read more
Appeals court requires U. of Kentucky to submit redacted records
May 21, 2019
The University of Kentucky will have to provide redacted records of a Title IX investigation — and specific justifications for those redactions — to a state circuit court for review, after a ruling Friday by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. That amounts to a win for UK’s student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel, which has been… Read more
Professor settles First Amendment lawsuit with University of Kentucky, UK to pay $620,000
December 18, 2018
In August 2017, Dr. Raynor Mullins, a faculty member at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, filed suit against UK alleging that the university violated his First Amendment rights by retaliating against him after he criticized Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s proposed Medicaid plan. Earlier this month, Mullins and UK settled the lawsuit for $620,000…. Read more
Speech Code of the Month: University of Kentucky
May 22, 2018
FIRE announces our Speech Code of the Month for May 2018: the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky’s Bias Incident Response Team threatens to seriously chill freedom of speech for the university’s more than 30,000 students and faculty. Bias response teams like Kentucky’s are burgeoning on campuses around the country. As FIRE exclusively reported… Read more
Judge Gets It Wrong in Kentucky Records Ruling
January 25, 2017
The University of Kentucky (UK) can withhold records related to the sexual assault claims made against a former professor under student privacy law, a judge ruled Monday—but the judge’s ruling doesn’t make sense under the law it cites. The records in question relate to university investigations of former Associate Professor of Entomology James Harwood, who… Read more
Federal Court: Campus Sexual Assault Hearings are ‘Quasi-Criminal’ in Nature
January 20, 2016
Earlier this week, a federal court dismissed a student’s lawsuit against University of Kentucky administrators under a doctrine requiring that federal courts defer to state proceedings under certain circumstances. The court’s decision turned on its conclusion that the student’s sexual misconduct hearing at the University of Kentucky was an official “state proceeding … akin to… Read more
University of Kentucky Offers Students First Amendment Violations in Two Flavors
January 21, 2015
The University of Kentucky (UK) has apparently failed to notice that universities are increasingly being forced to get rid of their ironically named “free speech zones,” whether by state legislation or costly lawsuits. UK currently maintains two “Designated Unrestricted Areas,” which constitute the small fraction of the campus where a reservation is not required for… Read more
FIRE’s Will Creeley Heads to Kentucky to Speak at UK, EKU
April 1, 2013
Tomorrow, FIRE’s Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley heads to the Bluegrass State to discuss student rights at the University of Kentucky (UK) and Eastern Kentucky University (EKU). At both schools, Creeley will examine the state of the law on freedom of speech on today’s college campuses, discussing the decades of legal precedent… Read more
Know Your Rights: Kentucky Student Videotapes Search of Dormitory
December 13, 2012
On Monday, a University of Kentucky student posted a video on YouTube that showed him berating some police officers who entered his dormitory, according to Photography is Not a Crime. Warning: the video includes profanity. According to Tyler Kingkade of The Huffington Post, the University of Kentucky has now fired the police officer in question, which makes… Read more
Did Somebody Say ‘Gazongas’? You’re Busted!
August 22, 2012
There’s a movement afoot in state legislatures to ban employers and universities from demanding control of or monitoring the social media accounts of their students or employees. One such bill specifically aimed at students unanimously passed the California Senate yesterday. Advocates of these laws justifiably worry that, when students are required to provide their usernames… Read more
‘Inside Higher Ed’ on Rash of Newspaper Thefts; Latest at University of Kentucky
November 15, 2006
Another week, another newspaper theft on campus. Inside Higher Ed reports today that 4,500 copies of the Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky’s student newspaper, were stolen on Monday, becoming the latest example of a disturbing trend on campus. As Tara reported just last Thursday, newspaper thefts have occurred in the past few weeks at… Read more