School Spotlight
University of North Texas
Speech Code Rating
Policy Manual: 16.005 Prohibition Against Sexual Misconduct and Retaliation
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022“Sexual Harassment – State” or “State Sexual Harassment” means unwelcome sex-based verbal or physical conduct that: … 2. in the education context, is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that the conduct interferes with a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from educational programs o... Read MorePolicy Manual: 07.012 University of North Texas Code of Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022Engaging in physical or verbal abuse, fighting, threats, intimidation, coercion, or any other conduct that threatens or endangers the health, safety or welfare of any person. Speech protected by the Constitutions of the United States and Texas is not a violation of this provision, but fighting words and statements w... Read MorePolicy Manual: 07.012 University of North Texas Code of Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022“Sexual Harassment” means the unwelcome, sex-based verbal or physical conduct that: … in the education context, is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that the conduct interferes with a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from educational programs or activities. For purposes of this policy... Read MorePolicy Manual: 16.005 Prohibition Against Sexual Misconduct and Retaliation – Title IX Sexual Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022“Sexual Harassment – Title IX” or “Title IX Sexual Harassment” means Conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … 2. Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the Un... Read MorePolicy Manual: 14.003 Acceptable Use
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022University students may use University information resources for school-related and personal purposes in accordance with this policy and other applicable University policies, and state and federal law, provided personal use does not result in any additional costs to the University. … University information res... Read MorePolicy Manual: 07.006 Free Speech and Public Assembly on Campus Grounds
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: July 29, 2022The University of North Texas (UNT) recognizes that freedom of expression and public assembly are fundamental rights of all persons and are essential components of the education process. … Campus grounds generally are open to students, employees and visitors for expressive activity. However, individuals and or... Read More
University of North Texas: Student Newspaper Critic Seeks to Compel Administrators to Turn Over Unpublished Material
August 12, 2020
In July 2020, students at the University of North Texas petitioned administrators to disband a conservative student group. A conservative non-profit organization, displeased with the student newspaper’s “biased” coverage of the controversy, issued a records request under Texas’ Public Information Act. The request asked administrators to require the newspaper to share unpublished materials. On August… Read more
University of North Texas: Academic Journal Investigated for Edition Debating Racism in Music Theory
August 6, 2020
In July 2020, UNT announced an investigation into the Journal of Schenkerian Studies after the music theory journal published a series of articles debating the relationship between racism and the theories developed by the journal’s namesake, 19th century music theorist Heinrich Schenker. The series had come under fire by some graduate students and faculty, who… Read more
University of North Texas’s student government latest to waver in commitment to viewpoint neutrality
April 29, 2022
The University of North Texas’s student government passed a resolution that calls into question its commitment to allocate student funds on a viewpoint-neutral basis — and it’s not the only student government to have shirked its First Amendment obligations by doing so. On April 13, UNT’s Student Government Association unanimously passed the resolution, which catalogs… Read more
Court: University of North Texas professor’s First Amendment retaliation lawsuit over firing for calling ‘microaggression’ flyers ‘garbage’ can continue
March 14, 2022
A First Amendment lawsuit filed by a former University of North Texas adjunct professor who was non-renewed in 2019 for criticizing microaggressions can continue, a federal district court judge held on Friday. Along with denying the university’s motion to dismiss Nathaniel Hiers’ First Amendment retaliation claims, the court held that attempting to force Hiers to… Read more
UC Hastings, University of North Texas can pave the way for free speech by addressing the ‘heckler’s veto’
March 4, 2022
Two days, two public universities, two speakers drowned out and shouted down on campuses purportedly dedicated to the open exchange of ideas. Each incident demonstrated why the “heckler’s veto” is an illiberal, misguided attack on free speech. First, at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law on March 2, constitutional scholar Ilya Shapiro… Read more
Punished for his scholarship, University of North Texas music professor files federal lawsuit
January 21, 2021
6 p.m. EST: This post has been updated and edited to address defamation claims in Jackson’s lawsuit. When University of North Texas music professor Timothy Jackson published an essay critical of a fellow music scholar’s speech on “music theory’s white racial frame,” UNT graduate students and faculty demanded that Jackson face punishment for expressing those… Read more
So to Speak podcast: Campus mobs, heckler’s vetoes, racial segregation, and a rogue student government!
November 13, 2020
On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we are joined by FIRE’s Robert Shibley and Adam Goldstein to discuss recent cases of censorship — and a case of racial segregation — on campus. Show notes: Teaching history not permitted: St. John’s bulldozes academic freedom, punishes professor for posing question about ‘Columbian… Read more
Amidst FIRE’s record-breaking summer, demands to terminate faculty went mainstream
October 13, 2020
20 minutes in Saratoga Springs It’s worth getting to know the case of Skidmore College professor David Peterson, if you haven’t read about it. Peterson, an art professor at Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, New York for more than 30 years, unwittingly came into notoriety when he and his wife checked out a pro-police rally near… Read more
Non-profit group asks University of North Texas to turn over ‘biased’ student newspaper’s records
August 12, 2020
In the wake of calls for a Texas university to disband a conservative student organization — a move that would violate the First Amendment — a non-profit group is attempting to use the state’s open records law to force a student newspaper that reported on the controversy to turn over its notes. The university has… Read more
University of North Texas investigates music theory journal for defending 19th century composer from racism charges
August 6, 2020
DENTON, Texas, Aug. 6, 2020 — Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is defending a Schenkerian music theory journal at the University of North Texas, and its editors, from an unwarranted investigation into alleged racism. “This just goes to show you that no area of academia, however obscure, is immune to those who… Read more
Fired for his views, UNT math professor brings free speech lawsuit
April 27, 2020
In total defiance of the First Amendment, the University of North Texas has fired a math professor for criticizing the concept of microaggressions and for refusing to attend extra diversity training to correct his views, which the math department chair deemed “not compatible with the values of this department.” Now, professor Nathaniel Hiers is suing… Read more
Flag Day reminder at UNT: The First Amendment protects showing ‘disrespect’ for flag
June 14, 2019
Just in time for Flag Day, a University of North Texas student, Yolian Ogbu, has received extensive criticism on Twitter for covering up the American flag with a Black Lives Matter flag in the Student Government Association office. Ogbu, recently-elected president of SGA, posted two pictures on her personal Twitter account: a “before” picture of… Read more
Student Spotlight: Alex Anderson, Marketing Freedom at University of North Texas
June 27, 2014
Alex Anderson is a junior at the University of North Texas (UNT), where she is ramping up the student movement for free speech on campus. As a public relations and strategic communications major, Alex has been applying her ingenuity in marketing to the fight for freedom of expression.
How Students Made a Difference for Liberty in 2009
January 6, 2010
For the past few days FIRE has been looking back over our list of accomplishments in 2009. That list would not be complete without mentioning the students who have worked so hard to make their campuses more free. At the College of William & Mary, former FIRE intern and Campus Freedom Network member Braum Katz… Read more
Under Pressure from FIRE and Students, University of North Texas Eliminates Free Speech Zones
October 26, 2009
FIRE is very pleased to report that the University of North Texas (UNT) has revised its “Free Speech and Public Assembly Policy,” which previously provided for only six “free speech areas” on campus where students could “engage in constitutionally protected speech and expression at the University of North Texas.” The policy further required students and… Read more
Bigger in Texas?
February 22, 2005
Responding to our recent post about the University of North Texas, a reader from Texas wrote: Well, I appreciate your understanding of the scale of things here in Texas. I noticed that, in your discussion of the fun at North Texas, you made reference to “nearby Texas Tech.” We are about 300 miles from North… Read more
Calls for Censorship in Texas
February 21, 2005
The Denton, Texas, Record-Chronicle carried a story on Saturday (registration required) about an uproar over a free-expression issue at the University of North Texas. Apparently, the university chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) at UNT held a “Capture an Illegal Immigrant” event to draw attention to what they see as the problem of… Read more