School Spotlight
Vassar College
Location:
Poughkeepsie, New York
Type:
Private
Speech Code Rating
Vassar College 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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College Regulations: Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment- Definitions
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: February 17, 2021Discriminatory Harassment is unwelcome conduct directed toward an individual based on an individual’s actual or perceived race, color, religion or religious belief, citizenship status, sex, marital status, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, military status or a... Read MoreCollege Regulations: Statement on Academic Responsibility and Respect for Persons
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: February 16, 2021As a private institution, Vassar is a voluntary association of persons who share a responsibility to respect the rights, dignity, and integrity of all community members and guests. In addition to adhering to federal and state laws, all community members and guests are expected to abide by Vassar’s governing principl... Read MoreCollege Regulations: Specific College Regulations- Section 18: Publicity
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: February 16, 2021Anyone found to have engaged in the following behavior is subject to the disciplinary sanctions outlined in Part K. … Failing to include contact information of the individual or student organization responsible for the posting to all fliers and posters. Read MoreCollege Regulations: Public Order
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: February 17, 2021Any group wishing to use a public or academic facility for a meeting, lecture, concert, or other occasion, other than for usual and routine purposes, should give advance notice to, and obtain approval from, the director of campus activities. Read MoreCollege Regulations: Cyberethics, Internet Safety, and Community Standards
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
Last updated: February 16, 2021Vassar’s computer regulations set clear guidelines in accordance with college regulations to govern conduct on computers (see above). Cyberethics and Internet safety are issues that all community members must be aware of to ensure a healthy, safe, and respectful campus environment. Cyberethics codes of responsible a... Read MoreCollege Regulations: Bias Incident and Hate Crime Protocol
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Bias and Hate Speech
Last updated: February 16, 2021Vassar College strives to provide educational, working, and living environments free from discrimination, harassment, intolerance, and hate. Such behavior will not be tolerated. The purpose of bias incident and hate crime protocol is to provide information about responding to bias incidents or hate crimes that occur... Read MoreCollege Regulations: Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment- Grievance Policy for Addressing Formal Complaints of Sexual Harassment Under the Title IX Regulations
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: February 16, 2021For the purposes of this Title IX Grievance Policy, “covered sexual harassment” includes any conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: … Unwelcome conduct that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a pers... Read MoreCollege Regulations: Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment- Relationship to Academic Freedom and Responsibility
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: February 16, 2021As articulated in the Vassar College Statement on Academic Freedom, Vassar is dedicated to freedom of inquiry in the pursuit of truth and is vigilant in defending the right of individuals to free speech. This may include the introduction and discussion of controversial and challenging matters both within and beyond ... Read MoreCollege Regulations: Statement on Academic Responsibility and Respect for Persons
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: February 16, 2021Vassar College values freedom of expression and supports deep engagement in and equitable access to teaching, learning, scholarly research, and artistic endeavor. The College is committed to the pursuit of knowledge, freedom of inquiry, and informed, robust, and inclusive debate. Vassar’s faculty and students may en... Read More
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 / out of 154 colleges surveyed |
|
| Overall Ranking | 40 |
| Ideological Diversity | 154 |
Overall / out of a top score of 100 |
|
| Overall Score | 60.85 |
| Openness | 10.96 |
| Tolerance (Liberals) | 12.39 |
| Tolerance (Conservatives) | 6.86 |
| Administrative Support | 5.87 |
| Comfort | 15.09 |
| Disruptive Conduct | 9.68 |
| Speech Code | YELLOW |
In Due Process Lawsuit, Court Rules in Favor of Vassar College
April 1, 2015
Yesterday, in a closely watched lawsuit brought by a student expelled from Vassar College for sexual assault, a federal district court issued a ruling sharply in favor of the private liberal arts college. Granting Vassar College’s motion for summary judgment in Yu v. Vassar College, federal judge Ronnie Abrams of the United States District Court… Read more
Boring Campuses: Not Just the Fault of Helicopter Parents
April 16, 2014
In a new article, Slate’s Rebecca Schuman laments the phenomenon of colleges and universities becoming toned-down, less playful, even boring. Schuman argues that this is in part due to parents over-planning their kids’ lives, leaving them incapable of finding creative ways to have fun when they’re older and on their own: A recent trip back… Read more
Found Guilty of ‘Improper Sexual Behavior,’ Expelled Vassar Student Files Suit
July 30, 2013
Former Vassar College student Xiaolu Yu has filed a lawsuit against the college, claiming that sexual discrimination and a lack of due process led to the school finding him guilty of “improper sexual behavior” a year after he had consensual sex with another student. The allegations might sound familiar to Torchreaders; former St. Joseph’s University… Read more
Controversy over New Independent Newspaper at Vassar Spikes Student Interest in Free Speech
December 10, 2010
At Vassar College recently, there was some controversy surrounding the Vassar Student Association Council’s (VSA’s) approval of the publication of The Vassar Chronicle, a new political journal created by the Moderate, Independent and Conservative Alliance (MICA). Vassar’s student-run publication, The Miscellany News, has been covering both sides of the discussion surrounding the Chronicle‘s trial run. In… Read more
More Commentary on ‘New York Times’ Piece
June 29, 2007
On Wednesday, Greg expressed his disappointment with Joseph Berger’s column in The New York Times, which discussed Evan Maloney’s film “Indoctrinate U” and painted a picture of the status of free speech on campus using a much sunnier color palette than we would have chosen. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones bothered by Berger’s conclusions…. Read more
Politics vs. Porn
September 30, 2005
Earlier this week, my FIRE colleague Robert Shibley called Torch readers’ attention to a free speech controversy at Vassar College. Students there were outraged by the latest issue of The Imperialist, the publication of Vassar’s Moderate, Independent, and Conservative Alliance (MICA), because it criticized self-segregation on the part of minority students. There were many calls… Read more
More Bad News for Student Press Freedom
September 27, 2005
Evidence has begun to roll in showing that the freedom of the student press is under assault as never before. It’s certainly bad enough that our own federal court system is attacking the free campus press through the Seventh Circuit’s en banc decision in Hosty v. Carter (now being appealed to the Supreme Court)—but hold… Read more