One college bans teasing. Another has a policy that requires students not hurt their peers’ self esteem. A third essentially forbids flirting.
These are just a few examples of some of the extremes found on college campuses across America that place political correctness above constitutional rights, according to a report released Friday.
Many universities maintain policies that seriously restrict students’ First Amendment rights, according to the report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
The organization researches colleges’ speech codes every year, and its 2014 data found 59 percent of the 427 colleges it analyzed maintain policies that “seriously infringe upon students’ speech rights.”
“Too many universities, including public universities bound by the First Amendment, continue to place substantial restrictions on students’ right to free speech,” foundation officials say.
According to the report: the University of South Carolina prohibits “teasing,” “ridiculing,” and “insulting”; the University of Connecticut requires that every “member of the university shall refrain from actions that intimidate, humiliate, or demean persons or groups, or that undermine their security or self-esteem”; and Florida State University bans any “unwanted, unwelcome, inappropriate, or irrelevant sexual or gender-based behaviors, actions or comments.”
Foundation officials also pointed out that there is a silver lining among this year’s results: for the sixth consecutive year, the number of universities that restrict students free speech rights has dropped.
“We are heartened to see another drop in the percentage of campuses maintaining restrictive speech codes,” FIRE’s Director of Policy Research Samantha Harris stated on the group’s website. “There is much more work to be done, however, particularly in light of the confusing messages coming from the federal government about the relationship between harassment and free speech.”
“For starters, the Department of Education needs to make clear to universities, once and for all, that prohibiting harassment does not mean restricting protected speech.”
Click here to access the organization’s full report.
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.