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Location: Vermillion, South Dakota
Website: http://www.usd.edu
Type: Public
Federal Circuit: 8th Circuit
University of South Dakota has been given the speech code rating Red. A red light university has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech. Read more here.
Red Light Policies
University Policies: 7.007 Free Speech Policy
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 16, 2016All free speech protests/demonstration on the campus of the University of South Dakota will be restricted to the appropriate Free Speech areas on campus and must be approved by the Muenster University Center Administration.
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Areas available for Free Speech:
a. Muenster University Center
b. Muenster University Center Courtyard
c. I.D. Weeks Library Courtyard…
Anyone wishing to protest or demonstrate must complete a Non-Commercial Free Speech Request Form (www.usd.edu/muc) and make reservations at least three (3) days prior to the event.
Student Handbook: Guidelines for the Awareness and Prevention of Acts of Cultural Insensitivity and Bullying at USD
Speech Code Category: Bullying Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2016Two critical issues that lead to a negative climate for and experience of diverse students are cultural acts of insensitivity and “bullying.” Making fun of or degrading individuals and the groups to which they belong is considered an act of cultural insensitivity. Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior that is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying is repeated, deliberate and disrespectful behavior that has the intent of hurting someone else. Teasing, making fun of, laughing at or harassing someone over time is bullying. Bullying hurts, creates a negative climate and can disrupt another student’s ability to function, sleep, concentrate and to be academically successful.
South Dakota Board of Regents Policy Manual: Student Conduct Code
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2016Use of technology to send Harassing or abusive messages….
The University of South Dakota Sales and Solicitation Policy and Request Form
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2016Sales and Solicitation on USD property is strictly prohibited without authorization from the Muenster University Center. A copy of this authorized Sales and Solicitation form must be displayed at all times while on campus.
1. All sales and solicitations in the public areas of the campus of The University of South Dakota will be restricted to the appropriate areas inside or near the Theodore R. and Karen K. Muenster University Center and must be approved by the Muenster University Center Administration. …
III. Areas available for sales and solicitation
i. Muenster University Center
ii. Muenster University Center Courtyard
iii. I.D. Weeks Library Courtyard
Student Handbook: Freedom of Speech
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 19, 2016The institution shall ensure the rights of free speech and expression and shall encourage the timely and rational discussion of topics whereby the ethical and intellectual development of the student body and general welfare of the public may be promoted.
South Dakota Board of Regents Policy Manual: 1:17 Harassment Including Sexual Harassment
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2016Harassment on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, gender, gender identity, transgender, sexual orientation, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status or harassment on any other status that may become protected under law against discrimination or on any grounds, directed against individuals, may be established by showing,
1) Conduct toward another person that has the purpose or the effect of creating an objectively and subjectively intimidating, hostile or demeaning environment that substantially interferes with the individual’s ability to participate in or to realize the intended benefits of an institutional activity, employment or resource.
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Harassment shall be found where, in aggregate, the incidents are sufficiently pervasive or persistent or severe that a reasonable person with the same characteristics of the victim of the harassing conduct would be adversely affected to a degree that interferes with his or her ability to participate in or to realize the intended benefits of an institutional activity, employment or resource. … If the victim does not subjectively perceive the environment to be hostile, the conduct has not actually altered the conditions of participation and there will be no violation of this policy.
Other conduct that is extreme and outrageous exceeding all bounds usually tolerated by polite society and that has the purpose or the substantial likelihood of interfering with another person’s ability to participate in or to realize the intended benefits of an institutional activity, employment or resource.
South Dakota Board of Regents Policy Manual: 3:4 Student Conduct Code
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 19, 2016Harassment, which includes, but is not limited to:
a. Conduct towards another person that has the purpose or effect of creating an objectively and subjectively intimidating, hostile, or demeaning environment that substantially interferes with the individual’s ability to participate in or to realize the intended benefits of an Institutional activity or resource; and
b. Other conduct that is extreme and outrageous exceeding all bounds usually tolerated by polite society and that has the purpose or the substantial likelihood of interfering with another person’s ability to participate in or to realize the intended benefits of an Institutional activity or resource.
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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 […]
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College Athletes Caught in Tangled Web
May 24, 2006
Four San Diego State students recently logged on to a computer and did what thousands of other college students do these days during their spare time. They were having fun on MySpace.com, posting personal party pictures and commentaries about life in college. Some included references to drinking alcoholic beverages and snide remarks about recent soccer practices, according to a student colleague of the four. But because the four students were athletes – in this case women’s soccer players – they suffered a penalty for it. When they didn’t heed their coach’s warning to stop posting on the site, they were […]
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Speech Code of the Month: University of South Dakota
June 7, 2017
FIRE announces our Speech Code of the Month for June 2017: the University of South Dakota. Not only are USD’s “Guidelines for the Awareness and Prevention of Acts of Cultural Insensitivity and Bullying at USD” written in a tone more appropriate for schoolchildren than adult college students, they also make clear that protected speech may be subject to punishment at the university. According to the guidelines: Two critical issues that lead to a negative climate for and experience of diverse students are cultural acts of insensitivity and “bullying.” Making fun of or degrading individuals and the groups to which they […]
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The Mystery of the Missing Free Speech Zone
December 12, 2014
FIRE’s Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project has already seen several victories for free expression on campus. Earlier this month, two institutions agreed to revise their speech codes and abolish their “free speech zones” within a day of each other—but far too many institutions still maintain such zones. A thoughtful editorial published in the University of South Dakota’s student-run newspaper The Volante on Wednesday criticizing the school’s limitations on speech led FIRE staff to take a closer look at USD’s free speech zones, and we made a bizarre discovery. One of USD’s free speech zones doesn’t exist. USD lists in […]
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