School Spotlight

University of Michigan – Flint

Location: Flint, Michigan
Type: Public
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Speech Code Rating

University of Michigan – Flint 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. Read more

  • The University of Michigan Interim Policy On Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct: Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 14, 2020

    Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, graphic (e.g., pictures and videos), physical, or otherwise, when: … Such conduct creates a hostile environment. A hostile environment exists when the unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature is sufficiently severe, persistent, or perva... Read More

  • The University of Michigan Interim Policy On Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct: Title IX Misconduct

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 14, 2020

    Title IX Misconduct: Is conduct on the basis of sex in which: … A Student, Employee, or Third Party engages in unwelcome conduct determined by a Reasonable Person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies another person equal access to a University Program or Activity ... Read More

  • Code of Student Conduct: Student Responsibilities

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 14, 2020

    Harassing or bullying another person – physically, verbally or through other means; a. The term bullying means any written, verbal, or physical act, or any electronic communication, directed toward a person that is intended to cause or that a reasonable person would know is likely to cause, and that actually causes... Read More

  • Standard Practice Guide Policies: Freedom of Speech and Artistic Expression

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: September 14, 2020

    Expression of diverse points of view is of the highest importance, not only for those who espouse a cause or position and then defend it, but also for those who hear and pass judgment on that defense. The belief that an opinion is pernicious, false, or in any other way detestable cannot be grounds for its suppressio... Read More

  • Code of Student Conduct: Student Rights

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: September 14, 2020

    Students at the University have the same rights and protections under the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Michigan as other citizens.  These rights include freedom of expression, press, religion, and assembly.  Higher education has a long tradition of student activism and values freedom of expres... Read More
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • Federal judge’s dangerous speech code ruling overshadows promising due process decision

    November 27, 2018

    Last week, a federal district court issued a ruling in a lawsuit brought by University of Michigan professor Pamela Smock against her institution that is notable for its sharply divided outcomes on several major civil liberties issues facing public university faculty. While the decision is promising with regard to campus due process protections, its holding… Read more

  • University of Michigan Student Assembly Does the Right Thing, Scraps Proposal to Lower Standard of Evidence

    December 11, 2009

    Last week, I blogged about the fact that Tulane University is on the verge of lowering the standard of evidence in student disciplinary matters from one of "clear and convincing evidence" to a "preponderance of the evidence." I discussed, as we have before on The Torch, why adopting the "preponderance" standard was a bad idea and would shortchange students’… Read more

  • Debate over Offensive Letter at University of Michigan–Flint

    October 18, 2007

    In the latest in a series of controversies involving student newspapers, a college newspaper at the University of Michigan–Flint has come under fire because it published an offensive letter to the editor insulting the university’s Muslim community. As with the recent case at Colorado State University, the letter seems to have spurred some calls for… Read more

  • Art and the Myth of the ‘Right Not to Be Offended’

    October 21, 2005

    Check out the fascinating story (“Censoring Art or Protecting Workers?”) about censored artwork in Inside Higher Ed. Apparently the University of Michigan at Flint is demanding that a graphic drawing called Hermaphrodite be removed from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center because it is creating a “hostile environment” for workers. Anyone who pays attention… Read more