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 reveals that “13 out of the 16 schools in the UNC System have at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”

Electronic Harassment, Threats, Stalking, and Similar Activities

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: August 15, 2016

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, abusive, hostile, fraudulent or defamatory communication, or any communication where the message, or its transmission or distribution, would constitute or would encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national, or international law or violate other policies, rules and regulations of the University. Information that is defamatory is defined as provably false, unprivileged statements that do demonstrated injury to an individual’s or a business’s reputation.

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Outdoor Area and Exterior Space Use Policy

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: August 15, 2016

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

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Assemblies with an expected attendance of more than 25 people must be reported no less than 48 hours in advance to the University police.

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University groups may conduct activities and assemblies without prior approval at any exterior campus location provided the assembly/activity aligns with the requirements in section III above and the space is not required to be reserved.

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Resident Student Handbook: Community Creed

Speech Code Category: Policies Restricting Freedom of Conscience
Last updated: August 15, 2016

The University 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 the rights of others
I will promote and practice inclusion and actively engage in learning about other cultures
I will actively show concern for others, their feelings, and their need for conditions, which support their work and
development
Allegiance to these ideals requires me to demonstrate behaviors that foster and support the freedom and respect of every individual in my community

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Sexual Harassment Policy

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 15, 2016

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 interferes with another’s work, academic performance or privacy.  Environmental harassment can inflict emotional and psychological harm on individuals and can make relationships and the work or study environment unpleasant, threatening and unproductive.  However, there is no requirement that evidence of actual emotional or physiological harm be shown in order for environmental sexual harassment to be found to have occurred.

In determining whether alleged conduct constitutes sexual harassment as defined in the policy, the record as a whole will be considered as well as the context in which the conduct occurred.  “Environmental sexual harassment” normally arises from a repeated or pervasive course of conduct, whereas “bargained-for sexual harassment” can be based on a single act.

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Student Handbook: Student Rights and Responsibilities

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: August 15, 2016

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.

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

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: August 15, 2016

Unlawful harassment includes conduct that creates a hostile environment by meeting the following criteria:
It is:
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. unwelcome;
d. severe or pervasive;
e. objectively offensive;
f. so unreasonably interferes with the target person’s employment, academic pursuits, or participation in University-sponsored activities as to effectively deny equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities

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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 Duke University, the private institution I attend, uphold the values of “freedom of inquiry and the free exchange of ideas,” while many of its nearby public counterparts fail to do so despite identical obligations? With the exception of Duke University and the University of North […]

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 detailed recommendations for how those codes could be improved. At the time, 13 of the 16 schools in the system received a “red-light” rating from FIRE for maintaining policies that clearly and substantially restricted students’ right to freedom of speech. Happily, a number of the […]