School Spotlight
University of North Carolina – Asheville
Speech Code Rating
Sexual Harassment Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: May 16, 2022Environmental Sexual Harassment – Unwelcome conduct, including sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature, that is so severe, persistent, or pervasive and objectively offensive that it alters the conditions of and effectively denies equal access to education... 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 MoreSpace Scheduling and Use Policy: Security Fees
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Security Fee Policies
Last updated: January 28, 2022University space users (and/or their University group sponsor, if the user is a sponsored non-University group), are responsible for the payment or reimbursement of any applicable fees or costs assessed as a result of the space use, unless waived by the University. Fees or costs may be applied to cover, among other ... 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 MoreSpace Scheduling and Use Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: January 28, 2022The University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNC Asheville) strives to create an open marketplace of ideas and places a high value on constitutionally-protected freedom of speech, assembly and petition. … Use of any University space, including assemblies and petitioning, may not interfere with, inhibit or substan... 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 MoreElectronic Harassment, Threats, Stalking, and Similar Activities
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: January 28, 2022A. Users may not use electronic communications to store, display or disseminate unlawful communications of any kind, including but not limited to true threats, obscenity, harassment, fraud, cyberstalking, infringement upon privacy, child pornography, or other illegal communications. B. This would include, but not be... 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