Many Tennessee universities maintain speech codes that suppress campus free speech, according to a recent report by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Of the six Tennessee schools included in the report, five reportedly have rules restricting free speech.
The Spotlight on Campus Speech Codes 2024 report rates U.S. colleges based on whether their written speech codes do not infringe on protected speech. According to the report, 85.4 percent of schools maintain policies that can or do infringe on free expression.
Tennessee State University (TSU) received the worst “red light” rating, meaning the school “maintains at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech or bars public access to its speech-related policies by requiring a university login and password for access,” according to the report.
TSU reportedly maintains a policy requiring students to register all “dissent” must be registered in advance with the university’s vice president of student affairs. FIRE Director of Policy Reform Laura Beltz told The Tennessee Star via email when asked why TSU earned its “red light” rating. Under this policy, students cannot hold spontaneous protests or events that promote controversial views, she continued.
“This prior restraint is unacceptable at a public institution bound by the First Amendment,” Beltz said.
Additionally, TSU uses “[s]exual innuendos” and “[w]histling in a suggestive manner” as examples of sexual harassment and implies such behaviors are banned across the board, Beltz said. TSU students must also refrain from “verbal abuse,” which is not clearly defined, and have a right to be free from “emotional harm,” she continued.
Most Tennessee universities in the report earned a “yellow light” rating, including East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Tennessee Technological University, and Vanderbilt University.
A school with the “yellow light” rating “maintains policies that could too easily be applied to suppress protected speech or maintains policies that, while clearly restricting freedom of speech, restrict relatively narrow categories of speech,” according to the report.
The University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) was the only Tennessee university in the report to earn a “green light” rating for upholding policies that “do not seriously threaten student expression,” according to the report. UTK earned its first green light in 2007.
MTSU and Vanderbilt, despite their “yellow light” ratings, outwardly promote free expression with various statements and initiatives.
“Free expression is essential to a university’s very purpose,” according to the Dialogue Vanderbilt initiative’s website. Dialogue Vanderbilt touts the value of free speech and hosts events for guest speakers and panel discussions. MTSU hosts and funds an initiative called the Free Speech Center, which produces articles, republishes news pieces, and provides commentary about First Amendment issues.
MTSU earned its yellow light because of one of its email policies, Beltz told The Star. Email users at the school must show respect for freedom from “unwarranted annoyance,” she continued.
“While the university can limit use of resources that causes a disruption to other students, it cannot limit speech because an administrator has made a viewpoint-based determination that it is annoying,”
When The Star asked an MTSU spokesman via email if it would consider changing its policies given the FIRE report, he did not answer the question. He directed The Star to the section of the report that acknowledges MTSU has adopted the “Chicago Statement,” which voices a commitment to free speech but is not a binding policy.
At Vanderbilt, students distributing written materials on campus must display their names on those materials, Beltz said when asked about the policies that earned Vanderbilt its yellow light.
The Star reached out to Vanderbilt for comment on their rating in FIRE’s report but did not receive a response by press time.
– – –
Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X / Twitter.
