School Spotlight
Western Illinois University
Speech Code Rating
Non-Discrimination Policy
Speech Code Rating: Red
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 4, 2019The University defines discriminatory harassment as verbal or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility toward an individual because of his/her sex, race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, marital status, national origin, disability, genetic information, and vete... Read MoreSexual Misconduct & Gender Non-Discrimination Policy
Speech Code Rating: Red
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 4, 2019Gender harassment – subjecting a person to adverse treatment based on held gender stereotypes. Adverse treatment can include verbal, nonverbal, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostility based on gender or held gender stereotypes, even if those acts do not involve conduct of a sexual nature. … Sexual h... Read MoreResidence Hall Handbook: Decorating your Room
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: June 4, 2019While you may decorate the inside of your room to suit your tastes, the outside of your door and window are considered available to public view. The University will not allow the posting of items that are deemed to be racist, sexist, indecent, scandalous, illegal, inciting, or in any way oppressive in nature. The us... Read MoreDistribution of Printed Materials and Collection of Signatures Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: June 5, 2019Distribution of printed materials or solicitation of signatures on sidewalks within the campus is limited to the daylight hours and is restricted to the following areas: The walkways and open area traditionally known as the “free speech area” directly to the north of the University Union. The south camp... Read MoreCode of Student Conduct
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: June 4, 2019Any student found to have committed or to have attempted to commit the following misconduct is subject to the disciplinary sanctions, including separation from the University or a lesser sanction authorized by the Code. … [A]cts of physical or verbal abuse. Read MoreCode of Student Conduct: Introduction
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: June 4, 2019As citizens of the larger community in which the University is located, students retain the rights and responsibilities common to all citizens; affiliation with the University does not diminish the rights and responsibilities held by a student or any other community member as a citizen of the State, the nation, or t... Read More
Western Illinois University: Police Demand Students Promoting Marijuana Legalization Use Long-Shuttered “Free Speech Area”
September 5, 2019
In March 2019, members of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Western Illinois University gathered in an open area of the University Union to advocate for the legalization of marijuana, holding a sign teasing the availability of “free ‘pot’ brownies”—brownies, without marijuana, inside of a pot. The students were stopped by campus police, who… Read more
Tick, tock: Western Illinois University’s ‘free speech area’ still running the clock
September 20, 2019
Earlier this month, we wrote about how Western Illinois University pledged to abandon its “free speech area” in 2003 but still scatters references to the supposedly discontinued area in its policies. The university’s police apparently did not believe that the free speech area had been closed, as they were still attempting to enforce it earlier… Read more
Western Illinois University’s ‘zombie’ free speech zone resurrected to shut down satirical ‘pot’ brownies event
September 5, 2019
MACOMB, Ill., Sept. 5, 2019 — More than 16 years after Western Illinois University announced it was “immediately” eliminating its free speech zone, students are still feeling the bite of a zombie policy — one the university declared dead long ago but still lives on in university speech codes. Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights… Read more
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