University of Wyoming

Student Code of Conduct: Definitions

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 4, 2018

“Harassment” is words, conduct or action (usually repeated or persistent) that, being directed at a specific person, annoys, alarms, or causes substantial emotional distress in that person and serves no legitimate purpose.

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Student Code of Conduct: Offenses Against Persons

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 4, 2018

Verbal, written or graphic abuse, including threats, intimidation, harassment, coercion or other conduct that creates a climate of fear or which is reasonably expected to cause mental or emotional distress.

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Sexual Misconduct Policies and Procedures Document for Faculty, Staff, and Students

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 4, 2018

D. Hostile environment sexual harassment. Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that is sufficiently serious that it affects an individual’s ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity, or creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment.

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UW Regulation 4-2: Discrimination and Harassment

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: December 7, 2018

Harassment: Verbal or physical conduct that unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work or academic performance or creates an intimidating or hostile work or educational environment. This definition encompasses specific conduct and behaviors defined in UW Regulation 4-3 (Title IX and Sexual Misconduct).

Hostile Environment: Unwelcome conduct by an individual against another individual based upon the individual’s Protected Class that is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it alters the conditions of education or employment and creates an environment that a reasonable person would find intimidating, hostile or offensive. The determination of whether an environment is “hostile” must be based on all of the circumstances. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, the frequency of the conduct, its severity, and whether it is threatening or humiliating. Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality.

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Campus Hate Crime Hoaxes: A Best-Of List

December 17, 2014

By Michael Cipriano at The College Fix From New Jersey to Wyoming, college campuses around the country have been plagued with hate crime hoaxes in recent years. Sometimes justified as trying to raise awareness for progressive social causes, the hoaxes often worked. The College Fix compiled this list of recent university hate crime hoaxes. Racist Facebook messages posted by student himself – November 2014 A University of Chicago student admitted to posting racist and violent messages against himself on his Facebook page after claiming his account was hacked. The elaborate hoax was an attempt to shame the school into making policy changes addressing race […]

Documentary on 1969 student-athlete protest paves way for better solutions

July 31, 2018

In a short documentary detailing one of the earliest student-athlete free speech cases, filmmaker Darius Clark Monroe and producer Spike Lee tell the story of 14 University of Wyoming football players dismissed from the team for asking their coach’s permission to protest on the field. The documentary and the 1972 court case it describes parallel the student-athlete protests of today and asks whether the benefits of hindsight can offer a better solution. “Black 14” is about 14 African-American UW football players who asked their coach for permission to wear black armbands on the field in their upcoming game against Brigham […]

‘Hate Crime’ Hoaxes

May 2, 2013

by James Taranto The Wall Street Journal     A student at the University of Wyoming has received a misdemeanor citation for a Facebook post that “allegedly threatened” a female UW student, the amusingly named Laramie Boomerang reports. The target of the post was Meg Lanker-Simons. The student who is accused of sending it is Meg Lanker-Simons. CampusReform.org has the full text of the post except for a partly redacted four-letter obscenity. As this is the website of a family newspaper, we’ll rely on the Boomerang’s sanitized description: The post was made April 24 to the UW Crushes page on […]

University of Wyoming to Host Much-Needed Discussion on Freedom of Expression

September 13, 2010

We haven’t been that nice to the University of Wyoming here on The Torch in recent months. Then again, the university’s recent antics—banning education professor and former Weather Underground leader William Ayers from speaking on the campus and then losing $86,000 of Wyoming taxpayer money trying to defend this indefensible decision in court—haven’t made it the easiest to love. After being dragged through the mud here and elsewhere, however, I’m encouraged to see UW’s announcement that it will hold a forum on the subject of freedom of expression on its campus. The university’s press release states that the event “will […]

How FIRE Tried to Save Wyoming Taxpayers $86,000

July 12, 2010

We’ve written a number of times here about the University of Wyoming’s ill-advised and unconstitutional attempts to prevent education professor and former Weather Underground leader William Ayers from speaking on the UW campus after he was duly invited. We predicted that this effort would fail miserably and expensively, and we were, of course, right. Most recently, I wrote here that the attempted end-run around the First Amendment cost the university and, ultimately, the people of Wyoming $50,000. That $50,000 doesn’t tell the whole story, as we’ve learned recently, for it only covers the legal fees for the plaintiffs, Ayers and […]

Citizens of Wyoming Docked $50,000 for UW’s Disregard of the First Amendment

May 21, 2010

The drama surrounding the recent appearance of Professor William Ayers at the University of Wyoming has come to an end, it seems, and an expensive end at that. Ayers and UW student Meg Lanker agreed to drop their lawsuit against the university after UW agreed to pay $50,000 in legal fees for the plaintiffs, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Like a loaded gun in a Chekhov drama whose presence guarantees it will be discharged before the play’s end, this outcome was foreseeable. Unlike the world of Uncle Vanya or The Seagull, however, it was eminently avoidable. FIRE had publicly warned […]

Ringing Endorsement of the First Amendment in University of Wyoming Court Defeat

April 28, 2010

As we reported yesterday, U.S. District Judge William Downes was unconvinced by the University of Wyoming’s defense of its ban of education professor and co-founder of the Weather Underground Bill Ayers, and ordered that Ayers be allowed to speak on campus in Downes’ decision yesterday afternoon. As Adam noted, FIRE and other civil liberties advocates had reason to be optimistic about yesterday’s decision after the hearing, as Judge Downes and plaintiffs’ attorney David Lane dashed the credibility of the university’s defense by sharply questioning the legitimacy of the threats the school cited as justification for excluding Ayers. The Casper Star-Tribune‘s […]

Federal Court Orders University of Wyoming to Allow Ayers to Speak

April 27, 2010

In a true “dog bites man” story for those who follow FIRE or are conversant with the First Amendment, the Associated Press is reporting that a federal judge has ordered the University of Wyoming to allow University of Illinois-Chicago professor and former Weather Underground leader William Ayers to speak on its Laramie campus. FIRE has been pointing out the inevitability of this development for some time, and just this afternoon noted that things weren’t looking so good for the university’s effort at censorship once the judge had told the university president in yesterday’s hearing that threats of violence do not […]

‘Heckler’s Veto’ Crumbling in Wyoming Court after Ayers Cancellation

April 27, 2010

Free speech is winning points against violent agitators in the wake of the University of Wyoming’s choice to ban from speaking on campus controversial education professor William Ayers, whose former organization Weather Underground once made a point of being violent agitators. As Peter described last Thursday, students and faculty at the University of Wyoming (UW) held a demonstration in support of free speech on campus, and Ayers, along with student Meg Lanker, has sued the university following two failed attempts to bring him to the campus. Peter’s post has most of the details, including some choice quotations from the lawsuit. […]

After Cancellation of Ayers Appearance, University of Wyoming Students Rally for Free Speech

April 22, 2010

Today, students and faculty at the University of Wyoming (UW) are holding a demonstration in support of free speech in the wake of a cancelled appearance by education professor and Weather Underground co-founder Bill Ayers. Ayers  has sued the university following two failed attempts to bring him to the campus. Ayers had originally been scheduled to appear at UW on April 5 and 6, hosted by UW’s Social Justice Research Center (SJRC). Though the controversy surrounding his appearance only swelled in the final days prior to his scheduled visit, the appearance had been planned at least as far back as […]