thefire.org

The information contained about speech codes has been gathered by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) since 1999 from college and university websites and from printed college and university materials. Although we check for changes, FIRE makes no guarantee that the material selected or the excerpted text is complete, comprehensive, or up-to-date. FIRE lists the date when the data were last checked on the university website. FIRE is not responsible either for changes made to policies after this date or for changes that were made but not applied to the language of the policies before this date.

 

FIRE cannot guarantee all material posted to the website for consistency and accuracy. Requests for updates, changes to the website, or corrections are welcomed and encouraged. These requests should be submitted to FIRE through the website. FIRE makes no guarantee about if or when these changes will be made to the website, but its goal is always accuracy and fairness.

 

The decision regarding ranking universities as “red light,” “yellow light,” or “green light” schools solely reflects FIRE’s opinion. Readers should evaluate policies themselves and reach their own conclusions before taking any action.

 

Excerpted or otherwise emphasized text reflects FIRE’s judgment about what will be of interest to the general public. FIRE makes no claim that any excerpted text is necessarily unconstitutional or unlawful. The excerpted text is only a small portion of a campus’s policy, and FIRE strongly urges users of the site to view the policy in its entirety and evaluate the excerpted text in the context of the full policy.

 

FIRE’s ratings, evaluations, and decisions to excerpt or otherwise emphasize text from university policies do not represent any judgments about the legality of the specific codes. FIRE seeks to provide information to the general public that will inform discussion and debate about the state of free speech on America’s campuses.