Yellow Light School

Claremont McKenna College

Yellow light colleges and universities are those institutions with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application. Read more here.

Public or Private: Private
Federal Circuit: Ninth Circuit
Head of Institution: President Pamela B Gann
Claremont McKenna College
500 E. 9th Street
Claremont, CA 91711
909-621-8111
pamela.gann@claremontmckenna.edu
Website: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu

« Return to School Overview

Do you have any information, updates, or changes regarding the policies at this institution? Let us know!

On this page, FIRE has excerpted policies that address speech and expression. You may download the full policy in .pdf form, below.

Restrictions on Expressive Rights

Harassment Policies (Learn More)

Yellow light: Civil Rights Related Policies: Harassment Policy 12-13

Examples of sexual harassment may include such conduct as:
...
5. A pattern of conduct that would discomfort or humiliate, or both, a reasonable person at whom the conduct was directed that includes one or more of the following: (1) unnecessary touching, patting, hugging, or brushing against a person's body; (2) remarks of a sexual nature about a person's clothing or body, whether or not intended to be complimentary; (3) remarks about sexual activity or speculations about previous sexual experience; or (4) other comments of a sexual nature, including sexually explicit statements, questions, jokes or anecdotes;
6. Visual displays of suggestive, erotic or degrading sexually-oriented images;
7. Letters, notes or electronic mail containing comments, words or images as described in (5) above.
Unlawful harassment is conduct that creates an intimidating, offensive, or hostile working or academic
environment, or that interferes with work or academic performance based on a person's protected status, including race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex (which includes harassment based on gender, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identification, age, religious creed, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, or other status protected by anti-discrimination and anti-harassment statutes, such as Titles VII or IX of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.
Sexual harassment may be ... "environmental" harassment, where the individual is subjected to a hostile or intimidating environment, in which verbal or physical conduct, because of its severity and/or persistence, is likely to interfere with an individual's work or education, or to affect adversely an individual's living conditions.
View full policy (PDF, 431 KB).

Green light: Statement on Harassment, Free Speech, and Academic Freedom 12-13

Speech or other expressive activity can and will be grounds for discipline when it (1) materially or substantially disrupts class work or involves substantial disorder to College activities, (2) invades the legal rights of others, (3) amounts to "fighting words," (4) is likely to provoke imminent lawless action, (5) constitutes defamation or obscenity, or (6) rises to the level of unlawful harassment. Labeling such improper activity as "speech" does not make it permissible, either under the policies of the College or under the law.
View full policy (PDF, 563 KB).

Posting Policies

Yellow light: Guide to Student Life: Posting/Publicity Policy 12-13

Any material to be posted publicly by students must be approved first by the Director of Student
Activities in the Dean of Students Office.
View full policy (PDF, 36 KB).

Internet Usage Policies

Yellow light: Policy Regarding Appropriate Use of CMC's Computing and Network Resources 12-13

The use of CMC’s CNF Resources to create, transmit, or store material that is fraudulent,
harassing, obscene (e.g., pornographic), threatening, or other messages or material that are
a violation of applicable law or College policy, such as under circumstances that might
contribute to the creation of a hostile academic or work environment, is prohibited.
View full policy (PDF, 152 KB).

Advertised Commitments to Free Expression

Green light policy: Civil Rights Related Policies: General Policy Statement 12-13

As an institution of higher learning, Claremont McKenna College has a profound
commitment to the free expression and testing of ideas -- whether or not those ideas are controversial or
unpopular --for such freedoms are essential to the search for truth, the central purpose of any institution of
higher learning. The College’s commitment to freedom of speech generally, and to the particular ideals
associated with academic freedom, requires that the advocacy of ideas in instruction, by both faculty and
students, be protected, and requires the College to protect the rights of its faculty and students to pursue
controversial, provocative, and unpopular topics and ideas in their teaching, learning, and research.
Moreover, rights of free speech and expression are not only at the core of the College’s mission, they are also
protected by state and federal law, which limit when offensive speech or expressive conduct may be
punished.
View full policy (PDF, 392 KB).

Green light policy: Guide to Student Life: CMC Demonstrations and Response Policy 12-13

Guaranteeing the rights of free speech and peaceable assembly is a basic requirement for any academic community. In addition, expressions of support or protest by members of the campus community which do not infringe upon the rights of others are encouraged.
View full policy (PDF, 88 KB).

NOTE: You must have Adobe Acrobat installed to view policies in PDF format.

The speech codes and policies above were last fully checked via internet and other research means by FIRE in October 2012. According to FIRE’s research the substantive policies are current at least until this date. Directory information, including the name of the president of the college or university, may have been updated more recently. If any policy has been revised, or if you believe that we are in error, please contact us.