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Speech Code of the Month: University of Rhode Island

By Tnricci - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18041734

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for December 2016: the University of Rhode Island.

The University of Rhode Island (URI) prohibits 鈥渂ias-based incidents.鈥 According to the policy:

A bias-based incident is one which has a negative effect on an individual or group and which is based on or motivated by bias against race, sex, religion, age, color, creed, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disabled and/or Vietnam era veteran status.

Incidents of bias-based behavior 鈥渨ill be considered University Student Conduct System violations.鈥

This provision includes a swath of protected speech so wide you could drive a truck through it. Anything that insults or offends another person has, by definition, a 鈥渘egative effect鈥 on that person, and yet the First Amendment protects most such speech. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in Texas v. Johnson (1989), 鈥淚f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.鈥 Yet by the plain language of URI鈥檚 policy, the expression of an idea can be punished at URI simply because it has a negative effect鈥攈owever minor and/or unreasonable鈥攐n another person.

Some schools publish logs of the types of bias incidents reported by their students. Unlike URI, not all of these schools make bias incidents a punishable offense鈥攂ut the nature of the incidents reported make clear the direct threat that URI鈥檚 policy poses to speech about political and social issues.

At , for example, 鈥淎 student reported concerns about a social media posting by another student that attempted to satirize the political atmosphere in the United States. This post triggered the reporting student to feel targeted.鈥 Another Clark student 鈥渞eported a negative interaction with a staff member regarding cultural and racial assumptions, which triggered the student to feel stereotyped and further marginalized.鈥

At the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), two professors were investigated by the university鈥檚 bias response team simply for discussing controversial social and political issues in class. In response to the ensuing controversy, UNC鈥檚 president announced plans to shutter the university鈥檚 bias response team.

At , one recent bias incident report 鈥渨as submitted by a student about a professor in the College of Arts & Sciences regarding a perceived discriminatory comment and microaggression on the basis of nationality.鈥 Another report 鈥渨as submitted by an undergraduate student in an unidentified school about another student regarding a perceived inappropriate comment and microaggression on the basis of religion.鈥

As these examples illustrate, bias incident reporting systems are frequently used to file complaints about speech on political and social issues. At URI, this means students can be investigated and possibly even punished for speech that is at the core of what the First Amendment protects. As a public university, however, URI is legally bound to uphold its students鈥 First Amendment rights. The university knows this; in the very same Student Handbook that bans bias-based incidents, a section on 鈥FIRE鈥 Rights鈥 provides that 鈥淸s]tudents have the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of inquiry and peaceful assembly.鈥

URI鈥檚 broad ban on 鈥渂ias-based incidents鈥 is inconsistent with students鈥 right to free speech and must be revised immediately. For this reason, it is our December 2016 Speech Code of the Month.

If you believe that your college鈥檚 or university鈥檚 policy should be a Speech Code of the Month, please email speechcodes@thefire.org with a link to the policy and a brief description of why you think attention should be drawn to this code. If you are a current college student or faculty member interested in free speech, consider joining the FIREStudent Network, a coalition of college faculty members and students dedicated to advancing individual liberties on their campuses.

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