Yellow Light School

Williams 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: First Circuit
Head of Institution: President Adam F Falk
Williams College
Office of the President
Hopkins Hall, 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 687
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-597-4233
Adam.F.Falk@williams.edu
Website: http://www.williams.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: Student Handbook: Sexual Harassment Policy 12-13

The term sexual harassment covers a broad range of behavior. Examples of the forms it can take include sexually offensive remarks or conduct; repeated or persistent remarks, jokes, or other actions that are demeaning to one's sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation....
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:
...
3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's performance by creating an intimidating or hostile educational or working environment.
View full policy (PDF, 94 KB).

Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility (Learn More)

Yellow light: Student Handbook: College Standards of Conduct 12-13

Accepting membership in this community entails an obligation to behave with courtesy to others whose beliefs and behavior differ from one's own; all members and guests of this community must be free of disturbance or harassment, including racial and sexual harassment.
View full policy (PDF, 98 KB).

Internet Usage Policies

Yellow light: Student Handbook: Computing Ethics and Responsibilities 12-13

Williams College has written standards of conduct that seek to prohibit annoyance and harassment by any members of the Williams College community.

You may not use computing resources to violate the College's standards of conduct. You may not distribute electronic chain letters or spam. These are not only annoying, but can also severely disrupt computing and network performance.
View full policy (PDF, 84 KB).

Advertised Commitments to Free Expression

Green light policy: Student Handbook: College Standards of Conduct 12-13

Williams College...is committed to being a community in which all ranges of opinion and belief can be expressed and debated, and within which all patterns of behavior permitted by the public law and College regulations can take place.
View full policy (PDF, 98 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 September 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.