Florida Atlantic University Revises 'Speech Code of the Month'

For the third month in a row, the university named as having FIRE’s “Speech Code of the Month” has revised the offending policy within weeks of receiving the dishonorable mention.August’s Speech Code of the Month was a new civility policy at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) that prohibited “racist” or “religiously intolerant” speech. On August 13, FAU posted an updated version of the policy that no longer contains the unconstitutional prohibitions. Rather than being proscriptive, the policy is now an aspirational statement of how FAU hopes its students will treat one another:[W]e encourage everyone to rise to the challenge of civility and embrace this principle of kindness in word and deed. Mutual respect dignifies both the message and the messenger.We applaud FAU—which has seen its share of free speech controversies over the past year—for taking this important step towards better protecting its students’ free speech rights. And we are thrilled that FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month campaign has been so resoundingly successful! Keep an eye out for September’s Speech Code of the Month next week.