School Spotlight
Vanderbilt University
Location:
Nashville, Tennessee
Type:
Private
Speech Code Rating
Vanderbilt University has been given the speech code rating Yellow. Yellow light colleges and universities are those institutions with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.
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Student Handbook: Student Discrimination
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: January 12, 2022Harassment is unwelcome conduct directed against a person based on membership in one or more protected classes, as outlined in the University’s nondiscrimination policy, which is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent that it interferes with or limits an individual’s education, living conditions, or participa... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Engagement- Freedom of Expression
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 14, 2021Students or student groups who distribute information, whether physically or electronically, are responsible for the content. Students may distribute physical materials, including flyers, leaflets, informational sheets,or similar materials, on Rand Terrace or outside the building in which a meeting has been schedule... Read MoreSexual Misconduct Policy- Sexual Misconduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 14, 20211. Sexual Misconduct: Is a broad term that includes what most people colloquially refer to as “rape,” but also includes other forms of misconduct, including both “sexual harassment” as defined by the Title IX Page 7 of 8 Regulations and the more broad behaviors included in this section. It also encompasses other sex... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Accountability- Threat, Harassment, Intimidation, Etc.
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 14, 2021Harassment is unwelcome verbal, physical, electronic, or other conduct toward another that is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it alters the conditions of education or participation in a University program or activity. A person’s subjective belief that behavior is intimidating, hostile, or abusive does... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Accountability- Violation of University Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 14, 2021Students are subject to corrective action when, individually or as members of a group, they violate University policy, rules, or regulations, including but not limited to the following: … Lewd or lascivious conduct or expression; … Read MoreSexual Misconduct Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 14, 2021Sexual Harassment: “Sexual harassment” is defined in the new Title IX Regulations (34 C.F.R. § 106.30), effective August 14, 2020, to be conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Engagement- Freedom of Expression
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 14, 2021Demonstrations and dissent are necessary and acceptable forms of expression. Generally, picketing, distributing literature, silent or symbolic protests (e.g., holding signs, wearing certain clothing, standing, etc.), or short and spontaneous verbal reactions to a speaker are acceptable forms of protest and dissent, ... Read MoreStudent Handbook: Student Engagement- Freedom of Expression
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 14, 2021As an institution of higher learning dedicated to research, teaching, and service, Vanderbilt is firmly committed to academic freedom and freedom of expression, and will maintain the conditions of freedom of inquiry, thought, and discussion on campus. Read More
Policies are rated on their inclusion of 10 due process safeguards. Each policy may receive 2 points for fully including that safeguard, 1 point for partial inclusion, and 0 points for no meaningful inclusion. Most, but not all, institutions have separate policies for sexual misconduct and all other misconduct. See FIRE’s Spotlight on Due Process report for more information.
Grades
FIRE surveyed roughly 37,000 students at 154 colleges and universities about the climate for free speech at their institutions. In 2021, FIRE released rankings of those schools, based on a number of factors, including openness, tolerance, self-expression, administrative support for free speech, and campus policies, scoring overall speech climate on a scale from 0-100. See the full report on FIRE’s 2021 College Free Speech Rankings for more information.
Rankings |
|
| Overall Ranking | 58/154 |
| Ideological Diversity | 108/159 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 59.97 |
| Openness | 9.43 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 11.4 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 8.71 |
| Administrative Support | 5.77 |
| Comfort | 15.3 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.36 |
| Speech Climate | |
| Supported Scholars | |
| Sanctioned Scholars | |
| Successful Disinvitations | |
| Speech Code | YELLOW |
Vanderbilt University: Refusal to Approve Constitutions of Student Groups that Require Leaders to Share Beliefs
January 27, 2012
The Vanderbilt chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) was told in April 2011 that recognition of its constitution would be “deferred,” and Vanderbilt claimed that the group’s Statement of Faith violated university policies.
New policy at Vanderbilt requires adherence to university’s values, bars appeals
January 13, 2022
In November, Vanderbilt University changed its “Student Discrimination” policy. The updated policy allows Vanderbilt’s Equal Opportunity and Access office to take action against conduct that doesn’t actually violate the policy, but that it determines “is otherwise inconsistent with the University’s values.” That determination can be made before an investigation is even opened, and “cannot be… Read more
Vanderbilt Faculty Adopts Free Expression Statement
October 10, 2016
Vanderbilt University is the latest in a series of universities across the country to articulate a commitment to free expression on campus: Vanderbilt’s faculty senate has officially adopted an “Academic Freedom of Expression Statement,” declaring the faculty’s commitment to the promotion and protection of free expression and the exchange of ideas. The statement promises: As… Read more
Speech Code Countdown: ‘U.S. News’ Top 25 College Rankings, Numbers 19-11
October 6, 2016
FIRE’s U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” Countdown continues today. We’re giving you a school-by-school analysis of just how well America’s “Best Colleges” do when it comes to protecting free speech on campus. Unfortunately, in today’s crop of top campuses, troubling speech codes abound. As part of FIRE’s fresh look at U.S. News’ top-ranked… Read more
Mixed Responses to Vanderbilt Professor’s Op-Ed on Islam
January 22, 2015
Last week, Vanderbilt University Law School professor Carol Swain, writing in the aftermath of the recent attacks against the French publication Charlie Hebdo, penned an op-ed for The Tennessean arguing that Islam is a uniquely dangerous religion. Many in the Vanderbilt community objected to the piece—some urging her to engage with Muslim students, and others… Read more
‘New York Times’ Columnist David Brooks Calls for End to Speech Codes
January 13, 2015
As advocates for free expression struggle to come to terms with last week’s tragic and deadly attack against the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, many are asking questions about what this means for freedom of speech everywhere, including in the United States. Last Thursday, New York Times columnist David Brooks asked those who have taken… Read more
A Victim of Vanderbilt’s So-Called ‘All-Comers’ Policy Speaks Out
August 27, 2014
Tish Harrison Warren, a former religious student group leader at Vanderbilt University, has authored a poignant article in Christianity Today about the effect on her life of a policy decision Vanderbilt made two years ago.
Former FIRE Intern Weighs in on Vandy Sexual Assault Scandal
September 30, 2013
One of FIRE’s favorite things to see is its former interns returning to school to advocate for individual rights on their campuses. So folks here at FIRE were excited to see 2013 intern Madeline Gootman publish an editorial commenting on the recent attempts by Vanderbilt alumni to get their school to respond more directly to… Read more
KC Johnson Praises Vanderbilt Handing Rape Case to Nashville Police
August 15, 2013
Yesterday on Minding the Campus, Brooklyn College professor KC Johnson noted Vanderbilt University’s actions following recent accusations that four former football players raped another Vanderbilt student while she was unconscious: University police reported the case to Nashville Police for investigation and criminal prosecution. In his article, Johnson contrasts Vanderbilt’s response to the allegations with the… Read more
Private Universities and the Conflict Between Mission and Speech
July 15, 2013
Madeline Gootman is a FIRE summer intern. When private universities send out their shiny pamphlets to high school seniors, they highlight their commitment to all things politically correct and otherwise acceptable in academia. However, these commitments to civility, respect, and social comfort are often at odds with the broad promises of free speech that universities… Read more
Three Vanderbilt Students Teach a Freshman about Free Speech
April 22, 2013
Last week, in an article for the Vanderbilt Hustler titled "Chalk Gods," Vanderbilt University freshman Rani Banjarian wrote about feeling marginalized by religious messages written in chalk on the campus pavement: Trudging resolutely forward in my 7:55 a.m. stupor, functioning on fewer than five hours of sleep, I found myself particularly put-off by the statements… Read more
Tennessee Legislators Introduce New Bill to Combat ‘All-Comers’ Policies
February 18, 2013
Last May, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam vetoed a bill that would have prohibited public institutions of higher education located in Tennessee from maintaining “all-comers” policies, while stripping state funding from large private universities that chose to do so (such as Vanderbilt University). These controversial policies prohibit student organizations, most notably religious and political groups, from… Read more
Feigning Free Speech on Campus
October 24, 2012
DESPITE high youth voter turnout in 2008 — 48.5 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds cast ballots that year — levels are expected to return to usual lows this year, and with that the usual hand-wringing about disengagement and apathy among young voters. Colleges and universities are supposed to be bastions of unbridled inquiry and expression, but they… Read more
Student Column Urges Vanderbilt to Reconsider Stance on Belief-Based Groups
August 23, 2012
"Considering the damage it has done to the diversity of student organizations on campus, the policy deserves continued debate and Vanderbilt should reconsider its stance on the issue." That’s what Vanderbilt University junior and 2011 FIRE intern Kenny Tan has to say about his school’s controversial "all-comers" policy, implemented during the 2011–2012 school year and… Read more
FIRE’s New Video Featured in ‘Daily Caller’
August 20, 2012
Fresh off the release of our new short documentary, "Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges Are Driving Religious Groups Off Campus," FIRE’s Robert Shibley has written a new column for The Daily Caller exploring the Vanderbilt case and the video’s message. Visit The Daily Caller to learn more and be sure to check out "Exiled from… Read more
Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges are Driving Religious Groups off Campus
August 20, 2012
Featuring Larry Gatlin and Jonathan Rauch! Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That’s no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about their members and leaders and drove 13 religious student… Read more
New FIRE Video: How Religious Groups Were ‘Exiled from Vanderbilt,’ Featuring Larry Gatlin and Jonathan Rauch
August 20, 2012
Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That’s no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about their members and leaders and drove 13 religious student groups off of campus. In “Exiled from… Read more
Belief-Based Student Groups Score a Win at SUNY – Buffalo
August 15, 2012
For some time now, Vanderbilt University has been ground zero in the battle to decide whether belief-based student groups on college campuses will be allowed to make membership and leadership decisions that are influenced by their core beliefs. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, this has… Read more
Fight for Religious Liberty Continues
May 23, 2012
In what can serve as an excellent lesson for campus officials who target the associational rights of their students, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) has reversed its ruling against a campus religious group and will now allow the club to operate at UNCG. Citizen Link reports that the school reversed its denial… Read more
Vanderbilt Reaps What it Sows: Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill Banning ‘All Comers’ Policy
May 2, 2012
Vanderbilt’s assault on religious liberty on campus looks like it’s headed for a crushing, if utterly predictable, defeat. Last night, the Tennessee legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that would ban Tennessee’s public universities as well as any private university that gets more than $24 million in funding a year (there’s only one: Vanderbilt!) from telling… Read more
Vanderbilt Update: Board of Trust Urged to Reverse Discriminatory Policy
April 19, 2012
Vanderbilt University’s Board of Trust is meeting late this week in the context of a hailstorm of local and national criticism of Vanderbilt’s new, discriminatory policy. The new policy, which prohibits belief-based student organizations from requiring that their leaders share the group’s beliefs, has sent the organization Vanderbilt Catholic off campus (the organization may not… Read more
11 More Vanderbilt Student Groups Revolt over New Discriminatory Policy
April 11, 2012
After Vanderbilt University issued a new, discriminatory policy that prevents religious student groups from maintaining belief-based membership and leadership requirements, 11 Vanderbilt student organizations have refused to accept second-class status at the university because of their beliefs. Organized together as Vanderbilt Solidarity, these organizations have applied for recognition as belief-based groups. Their decision follows the… Read more
‘Huffington Post’: Catholic Group Withdraws from Vanderbilt over New Policy
April 9, 2012
FIRE is not alone in noting that the student organization Vanderbilt Catholic has withdrawn from Vanderbilt University due to Vanderbilt University’s infringement on student groups’ freedom of association. Writing for The Huffington Post, Tyler Kingkade points out that under Vanderbilt’s new non-discrimination policy, a faith-based organization like Vanderbilt Catholic can no longer require that leaders… Read more
Vanderbilt Drives Out the Catholics–Who’s Next?
March 29, 2012
When Vanderbilt University introduced its new "nondiscrimination policy" for registered student organizations back in January of this year, the Vandy administration was met with an irate group of students from religious student organizations that would be negatively affected by the new rule. As these students—along with many other organizations and individuals, including the Christian Legal… Read more
Law Professor Explores Freedom of Association Controversy at Vanderbilt
March 20, 2012
In an article for the Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discourse last week, University of St. Thomas law professor Michael Stokes Paulsen addresses Vanderbilt University’s controversial decision to institute an "all-comers" policy for student organizations on campus. As Paulsen explains, the policy forbids students groups from "impos[ing] faith-based or belief-based requirements for membership or leadership." In his… Read more
All-Comers Supporters: Don’t Worry, Bad Things will ‘Never Happen’!
February 23, 2012
If tomorrow the laws against insider trading were revoked in their entirety, would you expect more insider trading to take place, or about the same amount? If you think more would result, congratulations; you apply logic the way most people do. But if you think there would be no effect, I think I might have… Read more
Help FIRE Defend Liberty on Campus
February 23, 2012
This year is shaping up to be an important one for campus liberty. In the past two months alone, we celebrated the inclusion of the University of Mississippi on our exclusive list of "green light" schools, won an important legal victory in Barnes v. Zaccari, and secured a quick resolution to an outrageous case at… Read more
FIRE in ‘National Review Online’ on Impact of Discriminatory ‘All-Comers’ Policy at Vanderbilt
February 6, 2012
This morning in National Review Online, FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley explores the negative impact of the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez for students at Vanderbilt and nationwide. Focusing on Vanderbilt University’s recent invocation of the case to justify its decision to ban belief-based student groups from requiring that… Read more
After Vandy’s Ill-Advised Choice, Revisiting ‘CLS v. Martinez’ Warning
February 1, 2012
Last night, Vanderbilt University held a "town hall"discussion of its decision to require registered student groups to accept all students in leadership positions, barring belief-based student groups from requiring that leaders actually agree with the group’s stated mission. According to The Tennessean, more than 200 students participated, and FIRE has received reports from students that the discussion, planned… Read more
Debate Over Religious Freedom Comes to a Head at Vanderbilt
January 31, 2012
This evening, Vanderbilt University will hold a town hall “discussion” about its new nondiscrimination policy that prevents belief-based student groups from making belief-based decisions about their leadership. Vanderbilt effectively is discriminating against political and religious groups that seek to promote a common message. Vanderbilt has told students that their organizations are engaging in prohibited discrimination… Read more
FIRE’s Open Letter to Vanderbilt Regarding Religious and Political Organizations
January 27, 2012
In an open letter today, FIRE asks Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos important questions about how Vanderbilt will handle the ramifications of its recent decision to ban political and religious student groups on campus from making leadership decisions based on their core beliefs. FIRE points out that Vanderbilt must be willing to explain whether the… Read more
George Will Castigates Vanderbilt for Discrimination Against Belief-Based Student Groups
November 3, 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George Will, writing in The Washington Post, takes Vanderbilt University to task for its new policy prohibiting certain student organizations from instituting belief-based requirements that their members or officers affirm the official values of the group. FIRE has been actively working to turn back this violation of student groups’ right to freedom of association,… Read more
Robert on Vanderbilt’s Nondiscrimination Policy Issues in ‘The Daily Caller’
November 1, 2011
In light of recent transgressions by Vanderbilt University against the freedoms of religion and association, FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley has penned an opinion article in The Daily Caller bringing some attention to the absurdity of Vanderbilt’s student group policies when dealing with the Vanderbilt chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) and other religious student groups. Robert writes: Nobody… Read more
FIRE Asks Vanderbilt to Respect Religious Liberty
September 29, 2011
Fox News Channel and Nashville newspaper The Tennessean are reporting on an ongoing controversy over religious student groups at Vanderbilt University. The Christian Legal Society (CLS) chapter at Vanderbilt Law School is among about a dozen student organizations (including five religious groups) that have seen their constitutions “deferred” rather than approved this year for noncompliance with Vanderbilt’s nondiscrimination… Read more
FIRE Intern in ‘Tennesseean’ on Vanderbilt’s Online ‘Free Speech Zone’
July 11, 2011
FIRE intern and Vanderbilt University student Kenny Tan published an op-ed in yesterday’s Tennessean, Nashville’s city newspaper, detailing the ways in which Vanderbilt’s “no hate speech” rule in an online forum contradicts Vanderbilt’s stated promises of encouraging academic debate through freedom of expression. In his op-ed, Kenny points out how critical open discourse is to education… Read more
‘Free Speech Zone’ and Doublespeak Online at Vanderbilt
June 27, 2011
On Vanderbilt University’s Common Place, a blog maintained by the university for first-year students, a new feature named “Free Speech Zone” was recently added. This feature is essentially a forum in which students may post. However, there are three rules in this forum: “No hate speech,” “No paid advertisements,” and “No organized crime.” This new… Read more
This Week in the News: Adam’s Vanderbilt Speech Still Provoking Discussion
March 11, 2011
Torch readers will remember that Adam delivered a speech at Vanderbilt University on February 23rd about Vanderbilt’s restrictive policies and free speech violations at other institutions. Trevor Williams of The Vanderbilt Torch (no relation) was the most recent author to write about Adam’s critique of Vanderbilt’s sexual harassment policy, community creed, and other speech-restrictive policies…. Read more
CFN Member Responds to Criticism of Red-Light Rating in ‘The Vanderbilt Hustler’
March 4, 2011
Last Friday, The Vanderbilt Hustler published a column by student Katie Des Prez which questioned FIRE’s assessment of the Vanderbilt Community Creed as well as the school’s sexual harassment policies. FIRE’s own Samantha Harris penned a response for The Torch to explain the chilling effect of Vanderbilt’s red-light policies, and called on Vanderbilt to uphold… Read more
FIRE ‘Protecting Sexual Abusers’ at Vanderbilt?
February 28, 2011
Last week, following Adam’s talk on the state of student rights at Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt senior Katie Des Prez penned a column in the student newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler, about FIRE’s criticism of the university’s speech code. Specifically, Des Prez takes issue with FIRE’s “red light” rating of Vanderbilt, arguing that the university’s restrictions on… Read more
Student Asks Vanderbilt to Uphold Free Speech Promises
September 3, 2010
In a letter to the editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler student newspaper, Vanderbilt University student Kenny Tan highlights the dissonance he sees, as an incoming freshman, between Vanderbilt’s free speech promises and the university’s Community Creed. Tan, who attended our CFN Conference this July, quotes the Student Handbook first: The Student Handbook states: “The University… Read more
The State of Free Speech on Campus: Vanderbilt University
February 17, 2009
Throughout the spring semester, FIRE is drawing special attention to the state of free speech at America’s top 25 national universities (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report). Today we review policies at Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt receives a red-light rating, which means it maintains at least one policy that clearly and substantially restricts protected… Read more