School Spotlight

University of North Carolina – Asheville

Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Type: Public
Tell University of North Carolina – Asheville to revise its speech policies by filling out this form.

Speech Code Rating

University of North Carolina – Asheville 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

  • Outdoor Area and Exterior Space Use Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
    Last updated: September 11, 2020

    Persons shall not engage in unlawful speech such as threatening or abusive speech, or intimidating conduct towards any other person. … 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 groups may conduct ... Read More

  • Electronic Harassment, Threats, Stalking, and Similar Activities

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: September 11, 2020

    A. 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 More

  • Sexual Harassment Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 11, 2020

    Environmental 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 More

  • Student Handbook: Student Rights and Responsibilities

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: September 11, 2020

    No 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 More

  • Student Handbook: Student Code of Community Standards- Specific Student Community Standards

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: September 11, 2020

    Unlawful 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 More

  • Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT)

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
    Last updated: September 11, 2020

    What Does BIRT Do? We assist students who report bias incidents. Our primary function is to support students who report bias incidents. We support them by listening to their accounts of their experiences and discussing resources and both formal and informal options for moving forward. The student is in charge of the... 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