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.”

University Policy 406: Code of Student Responsibility- Prohibited Conduct

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

Harassment/Intimidation/Bullying – Engaging in unwelcome conduct directed toward a particular person or identifiable group of persons through any action, method, device, or means which is so severe or pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it unreasonably interferes with the target person’s University employment, academic performance, or participation in University programs or activities, effectively denying equal access to University resources and opportunities (i.e. creates a hostile environment).

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University Policy 406: Code of Student Responsibility- Philosophy and Purpose

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: June 19, 2017

The University embraces and strives to uphold the freedoms of expression and speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution.

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University Policy 502: Sexual Harassment Policy and Grievance Procedures

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

Sexual harassment of students is a form of prohibited sex discrimination. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature by a University employee, by another student, or by a third party, constitutes sexual harassment if such conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive to limit the student’s ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity, or create a hostile or abusive educational environment.

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University Policy 406: Code of Student Responsibility- Prohibited Conduct

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

Discriminatory Harassment/Intimidation – Engaging in unwelcome conduct directed toward a particular person or identifiable group of persons based upon the target person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, disability, or veteran status through any action, method, device, or means which is so severe or pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it unreasonably interferes with the target person’s University employment, academic performance, or participation in University 14 programs or activities, effectively denying equal access to University resources and opportunities (i.e. creates a hostile environment).

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Resident Handbook: Window Decorations

Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

Residents that choose to decorate their room windows are encouraged to give consideration to the uniqueness of the University and its diverse population. Students must not display objects and/or decorations in the windows in violation of law or university policy, including (but not limited to) University Policy 502, Sexual Harassment Policy and Grievance Procedures. Anything posted on the windows must be removed upon checkout.

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University Policy 406: Code of Student Responsibility- Prohibited Conduct

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

Gender-Based Harassment – Engaging in unwelcome conduct based upon a target person’s actual or perceived gender, including harassment based on gender identity or non-conformity with gender stereotypes, which is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with a person’s University employment, academic performance, or participation in University programs or activities (i.e. creates a hostile environment).

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University Policy 503: Fighting Words Harassment in the University Community

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

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UNC Charlotte Standard for Responsible Use

Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: June 19, 2017

The following activities are specifically prohibited and considered violations of responsible use of university information resources: …

Use of electronic mail messages or Web pages that constitute invasion of privacy, harassment, defamation, threats, intimidation, or discrimination on a basis prohibited by federal or state law or University Policy 501, “Nondiscrimination and Procedures for Addressing Reports of Discrimination.”

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University Policy 802: Conduct at Speech Events

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: June 19, 2017

The transmission and advancement of knowledge and understanding flourishes in an environment in which the broadest range of ideas and ideologies may be freely expressed, examined, and debated.

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Get Thought Police off College Campuses

May 10, 2016

By Anna Beavon Gravely at The Charlotte Observer With hundreds and thousands of young people graduating from colleges across the country during the coming weeks, many of them will have an opportunity to hear from fascinating commencement speakers. Keynoting UNC Chapel Hill’s commencement over the past weekend, for example, was Anne-Marie Slaughter, who has written extensively about women’s evolving opportunities in the workplace… Read more here.

College Free Speech: Hecklers on NC Campuses Under Scrutiny

April 27, 2016

By Emily P. Dalesio at Associated Press Hecklers who shout down speakers on North Carolina’s college campuses could be punished under a proposal being floated before lawmakers that would make this state the newest battleground over free speech at U.S. universities… Read more here.

What a Year! Ten Trends in Higher Ed in 2015

December 30, 2015

By Staff at The John William Pope Center Looking back at all that happened in higher education this year is enough to make your head spin. One minute, state politicians are finally making good policies; the next, university officials are caving to irrational demands. At the other end of the spectrum, politicians are promoting policies of monumental stupidity, while the courts are making surprisingly good decisions (but not always). A majority of students favor putting extreme limits for political correctness on free speech, while an opposition is coalescing around protecting the First Amendment and due legal processes. And on and […]

Speech Crimes on Campus

December 9, 2015

By Staff at The Wall Street Journal The student censors at Yale claimed a scalp—pardon the micro-aggression—this week when lecturer Erika Christakis resigned her teaching position on childhood education. She had been pilloried for asking in an email if students weren’t too sensitive if they are offended by politically incorrect Halloween costumes. Yale’s powers-that-be ducked and covered in response, but the news on campus isn’t all bad, according to a forthcoming report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (Fire). The foundation’s annual survey of 440 colleges—comprising 336 four-year public and 104 private institutions—finds that the share of schools maintaining […]

Today’s College Campuses: Political Correctness Gone Too Far? (Rebroadcast)

November 6, 2015

By Charlotte Talks Staff at WFAE 90.7 Something is happening on college campuses across the country. There seems to be an increased sensitivity to issues that some view as painful or offensive. It has caused some comedians who used to consider college audiences their bread and butter to stop playing the college circuit. Worse, it is beginning to intrude on what’s being taught. We hear more about “The Coddling of the American Mind.” Guests Greg Lukianoff – constitutional lawyer and president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and co-author of the article “The Coddling of the […]

Two NC campuses on worst free speech list

January 7, 2014

by Jane Stancill Universities love to tout college rankings, but here’s a top-ten list that two North Carolina campuses won’t like. A group that advocates for basic liberties in higher education has picked two UNC-system campuses for its 2013 “10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech.” The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, put Appalachian State University and UNC-Chapel Hill on its list of campuses that ran afoul of speech freedoms last year. The advocacy group cited the two universities for specific cases that made headlines. At Appalachian State, trustees denied an appeal of a sociology professor, Jammie Price, […]

NCSA, UNC accused of restricting free speech

July 2, 2007

A report published recently by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) criticized the UNC system, including the North Carolina School of the Arts, of violating the right to free speech guaranteed in the first amendment. In the report dated January 10, 2006, FIRE called the UNC system “…one of the most likely places to find rules and regulations that restrict expression or dictate matters of conscience….” The report, entitled The State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System, identifies policies stated in the UNC Board of Governors handbook, as well as in 13 of […]

Republicans and Libertarians, unite!

January 24, 2006

Dear George: First of all, I want to thank you and the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy for sponsoring my recent speech at Wake Forest University. I also want to apologize for wasting the students’ time by giving them some advice they really didn’t need. Please allow me to explain. One of the points I emphasized in my speech was the need for College Republican groups to form coalitions with other political groups – groups that do not necessarily share their political views – to combat First Amendment abuses at colleges and universities in North Carolina. I didn’t know […]

Are colleges trying to be too nice?

January 24, 2006

RALEIGH – Can niceness be codified? Can you actually make a policy requiring politeness and only politeness? Apparently a number of colleges and universities across the nation, including some in North Carolina, think you can. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an organization monitoring First Amendment practices on college campuses throughout the nation, believes that a number of the state’s public universities go overboard in trying to mandate niceness. In fact, a report that FIRE recently issued says that policies at many schools in the University of North Carolina system are overbroad and likely unconstitutional. “Disproportionately, we are finding […]

First Amendment covers campuses, too

January 22, 2006

News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.) The First Amendment creates a free speech and assembly zone from one end of the United States to the other. Except at UNCG. University rules permit outdoor assemblies without prior approval only in two areas on campus. Even then, administrators must be given 48 hours’ notice. Fortunately, that policy is under review — just in time to prevent a legal challenge. Two students, members of College Libertarians, led a peaceful protest in front of Jackson Library in November and were charged with code-of-conduct violations. The proposed disciplinary actions against seniors Allison Jaynes and Robert Sinnott […]

UNC-G loses ground in free speech battle

January 19, 2006

Two UNC-Greensboro students recently charged with violating the university’s free speech policy are no longer in jeopardy of facing legal action. Administrators reprimanded Allison Jaynes and Robert Sinnott on Nov. 16 during their protest of the university’s free speech zones. Officials asked the students to move their demonstration to one of the two free speech zones on campus. The students refused, citing the First Amendment. UNC-G’s free speech zones were challenged again in December with the release of a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Robert Shibley, FIRE’s program manager, said the group has successfully challenged restrictions […]

A right not to be nice

January 19, 2006

by Barry Smith Times-News (Burlington, N.C.)   Attached Files A right not to be nice, PDF, 109.5 KB , Times-News (Burlington, N.C.)

UNC System Suppressing Free Speech on Campuses, Says FIRE

January 17, 2006

By Jody Brown at Agape Press A new report finds that 13 out of 16 institutions in the University of North Carolina system have at least one policy that “clearly and substantially” restricts free speech. The report — released by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the Pope Center for Higher Education — accuses UNC of being especially hostile to Christian students and their religious liberty. The report is entitled “Report on the State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System” — and FIRE’s Greg Lukianoff says what is revealed in the report […]

Colleges to avoid, Part III

January 17, 2006

By Mike Adams at Townhall.com It probably comes as no surprise that the third university in my “colleges to avoid” series is located in North Carolina. Recently, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy published a report criticizing the UNC system for its blatant in intolerance of free expression. Of the sixteen campuses in the system, only one university – Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) – was not criticized in the report. While students in North Carolina may want to consider attending ECSU, they would do well to avoid The University […]

That’s unconstitutional!

January 15, 2006

The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Two groups that often criticize the University of North Carolina system said in a report last week that most UNC campuses have policies that restrict free speech and violate the Constitution. Here are excerpts from what the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education said about Triangle campuses. N.C. CENTRAL UNIVERSITY NCCU’s Guide to On-Campus Living provides that “[s]tatements of intolerance and/or harassment due to race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, or sexual preference may be subject to disciplinary action.” This policy is unconstitutionally overbroad because it prohibits […]

Speech limits hurt purpose of college

January 14, 2006

By Ray Watters at Myrtle Beach Online GREENVILLE, N.C.—One of my funnier stories about college was how I got yelled at by three women the first week of my freshman year. It works better when you see me acting it out, so I’ll just cut to the punch line. My great offense was holding a door open for each of them. In the South. Horrors. It was a textbook example of what everyone had warned me about going to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Of course, all their warnings weren’t true. The seven people sharing my first dormitory suite […]

NC university system under fire

January 12, 2006

[To view the television broadcast of this story, please visit WWAYtv3.com.] WILMINGTON — North Carolina’s University system is coming under fire tonight for violating the constitution. A new study says the state system has serious first amendment violations at each state school. The report’s called [sic] Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, and that’s just what the author is looking to create. The report was done by conservative group, the Pope Center for Higher Education. The group comes down hardest on the larger state schools but found plenty of fault right here in Wilmington. They say UNCW’s biggest […]

Report: School limits on free speech illegal

January 11, 2006

News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.) RALEIGH – Some public universities in North Carolina impose unconstitutional limits on freedom of speech, a report issued Tuesday said. The Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released the report. “It’s a public school system,” Greg Lukianoff, interim president of the foundation, said at a news conference in the Legislative Building. “It’s bound by the First Amendment.” One example cited in the report was a prohibition by Fayetteville State University on vulgar language. Another example was the prohibition on “disrespect for persons” at UNCG. Later this month, […]

City & State Briefs

January 11, 2006

A report released Tuesday says some campuses in the University of North Carolina system impose unconstitutional limits on freedom of speech. The report cited examples such as Fayetteville State University’s ban on vulgar language and UNC Greensboro’s prohibition on “disrespect for persons.” The report suggested the UNC system pay more attention to First Amendment freedoms. It was issued by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Report outlines limits on free speech

January 11, 2006

By Erin France at The Daily Tarheel Some UNC-system school policies of free speech and nondiscrimination violate the U.S. Constitution, according to a report released Tuesday. The report, created by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, detailed First Amendment violations, including violations in UNC-Chapel Hill’s network acceptable use policy, and cites two examples of religious discrimination against student organizations. In 2002, the University asked the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to remove from its charter a provision requiring members to be Christians. And in 2003, the UNC-CH refused to recognize Christian fraternity Alpha […]

Report blasts UNC’s ‘speech codes’

January 11, 2006

by Jane Stancill in The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Most University of North Carolina campuses have policies that restrict free speech and violate the Constitution, according to a report Tuesday by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.The analysis was commissioned by the Pope Center, a Raleigh organization that often champions conservative causes, and was conducted by FIRE, a national group that takes on free speech issues on both ends of the political spectrum.The report suggested UNC campuses are vulnerable to lawsuits unless they change their so-called “speech codes.””Hopefully they can bring themselves […]

Report says state universities illegally limit free speech

January 10, 2006

Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. — Some public universities in North Carolina system impose unconstitutional limits on freedom of speech, according to a report issued Tuesday. The report was issued by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. “It’s a public school system,” Greg Lukianoff, interim president of the foundation, said at a news conference in the Legislative Building. “It’s bound by the First Amendment.” One example cited in the report was a prohibition by Fayetteville State University on vulgar language. Another example was the prohibition on “disrespect for persons” at the University […]

Mock bake sale ignites racial tension, anger

February 11, 2005

A mock campus bake sale by students who oppose affirmative action is flaming racial tension and debate about free speech at UNC Charlotte. The College Republicans student group is protesting at 10 a.m. Tuesday by pretending to sell cookies and brownies priced according to the buyer’s race or gender. Members say the sale will illustrate how affirmative action is unfair. Minority student groups, angered that the university has refused to stop the event, have vowed to stage a demonstration. Similar bake sales on campuses around the country have sparked heated confrontations between white and black students. And members of the […]

UNC Charlotte earns FIRE’s highest rating for free speech

June 22, 2017

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 22, 2017 — The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has earned the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s (FIRE’s) highest, “green light” rating for its commitment to the First Amendment. The state of North Carolina now has five institutions with this rating, more than any other state. “UNC Charlotte is showing a sincere commitment to free speech — a commitment that only a few dozen colleges and universities nationwide have made,” said Laura Beltz, FIRE’s policy reform program officer. “FIRE is thrilled at the progress in North Carolina and around the country, and looks forward to […]

What Campus Leaders Had To Say About Free Speech This Week [UPDATED]

October 7, 2016

Campus leaders have recently been taking advantage of opportunities—sometimes under pressure—to explain their approach to freedom of speech and other principles enshrined in the First Amendment. How did they fare with such tests this week? The Good Washington State University (WSU) Members of WSU’s administration—President Kirk Schulz, Provost and Executive Vice President Dan Bernardo, and Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Melynda Huskey—penned a “message on Free Speech” that went out to WSU students this week. In it, they reminded students of the university’s role in the free exchange of ideas: Public universities are uniquely suited […]

FIRE’s Robert Shibley Speaking at UNC Charlotte Tomorrow

September 24, 2014

Students, faculty, and FIRE supporters in the Charlotte area are invited to hear FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley speak at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. in Fretwell Building, Room 113. Robert will be speaking about free speech on a panel with Alex Johnson from Generation Opportunity and Jason Rines from the UNCC Department of Philosophy’s Masters Program. When: Thursday, September 25, 7:00 p.m. Where: Fretwell Building 113, UNCC Who: Robert Shibley, FIRE’s Senior Vice President, sponsored by Young Americans for Liberty at UNCC All are encouraged to attend! To invite a FIRE speaker […]

Report Exposes Extensive Constitutional Violations in University of North Carolina System

January 10, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C., January 10, 2006—Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy released their Report on the State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System. The Report explains precisely what the First Amendment obligations of the UNC System schools are—and shows that most of them are emphatically not meeting those obligations. “The revelations in our Report ought to outrage everyone in North Carolina,” said FIRE Interim President Greg Lukianoff. “The UNC System is disregarding the First Amendment at public expense, each and every day.” FIRE […]

The State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System

January 10, 2006

A Joint Report of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Executive Summary If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us. —West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson’s […]

The Remedy for Bad Speech Is…

April 15, 2005

As a nonreligious political liberal who has spent much his career defending religious students and students under the thumb of censorship from the left, I am used to defending protests or expression that I do not agree with. In fact, as I have often quipped, “I almost feel like I am cheating when I defend points of view I agree with.” Whatever I may feel about protests like the affirmative action bake sales, however, I am far more offended by efforts by official power to squelch them. One of the reasons I find the attempts to stop these protests so […]

The ‘Charlotte Observer’ Gets It Right

February 25, 2005

There few issues that cause more passionate debate on campus (and elsewhere) than affirmative action. While many campuses have stifled that debate by, for example, censoring conservative protests, UNC Charlotte did the right thing—permitting both the affirmative action protest and a counter-protest by the program’s supporters. This boisterous exercise in free speech triggered an outstanding editorial (registration required) from the Charlotte Observer, entitled “When Ideas Clash.” Money quotes: Whatever you think of affirmative action—or of the method being used to protest that policy—what just happened on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is what is supposed […]