School Spotlight
University of North Carolina – Asheville
Speech Code Rating
Outdoor Area and Exterior Space Use Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 15, 2021Persons shall not engage in unlawful speech or conduct, such as threatening, abusive or harassing speech or conduct toward or directed at other persons. … Assemblies with an expected attendance of more than 25 people must be reported no less than 48 hours in advance to the University police. … University... Read MoreResident Student Handbook: Community Creed
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies Restricting Freedom of Conscience
Last updated: September 15, 2021University of North Carolina at Asheville is a community of scholars dedicated to personal and academic excellence and growth. In joining this learning community, I commit to a code of civilized behavior. I will practice personal ethics and academic integrity I will honor the dignity of all persons I will respect th... Read MoreElectronic Harassment, Threats, Stalking, and Similar Activities
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 15, 2021A. Users may not use electronic communications to harass, stalk, or threaten others, or in similar ways create an atmosphere which unreasonably interferes with the education or employment experience. B. This would include, but not be limited to, posting, transmitting, or originating any unlawful, threatening, abusiv... Read MoreSexual Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 15, 2021Environmental Sexual Harassment – Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute “environmental sexual harassment” when such conduct has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment which unreasonably i... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Rights and Responsibilities
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 15, 2021No student may be denied the protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and Article I of the Constitution of the State of North Carolina, which refer to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom to assemble peacefully. Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Code of Community Standards- Specific Student Community Standards
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 15, 2021Unlawful harassment includes conduct that creates a hostile environment by meeting the following criteria: a. directed toward a particular person or persons; b. based upon the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender-identity, creed, disability or veteran status; c. unwelco... Read MoreBias Incident Response Team (BIRT)
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: September 15, 2021The Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) was created to assist students who report bias incidents on the UNC Asheville campus. We support them by listening to their accounts of their experiences, discussing resources and providing both formal and informal options for moving forward. The student is in charge of the pr... Read More
University of North Carolina System: State of the First Amendment
January 10, 2006
FIRE teamed up with the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy to release the Report on the State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System. The Report notes that UNC System’s many speech codes and illiberal restrictions on religious groups would likely not survive a legal challenge. It also… Read more
REPORT: North Carolina is home to some of America’s best colleges for free speech
September 24, 2018
Eight colleges in North Carolina earn FIRE’s highest rating for free speech — more than in any other state — but 17 still maintain policies that substantially restrict student expression. PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 24, 2018 — A new report finds that North Carolina’s colleges and universities lead the way nationally for protecting student free speech. The… Read more
New Book Takes Thorough Look at College Due Process Problems
January 31, 2017
Brooklyn College professor KC Johnson and journalist Stuart Taylor, Jr. cover an impressive amount of ground in their new book, The Campus Rape Frenzy: The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities. Readers who are less familiar with the problem of colleges and universities trampling on students’ due process rights—particularly in the context of sexual… Read more
The Problematic State of Free Speech at North Carolina Universities
July 29, 2016
There should be no place safer for free speech and academic freedom than a public university. After all, as state agents, they are legally—and morally—bound to respect their students’ constitutional rights. So why have many of the public universities in my home state of North Carolina egregiously violated the rights of their students? Why does… Read more
Nearly Three Years Later, Significant Improvement at North Carolina’s Public Universities
September 22, 2008
In January 2006, FIRE and the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy released a Report on the State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System. The report took an in-depth look at the speech codes in force at each of the sixteen universities in the UNC System and made… Read more