The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has recognized Middle Tennessee State University for its commitment to free expression. The national free-speech advocacy organization assigned its “green light” designation as part of its ongoing review of American universities’ practices and policies concerning First Amendment freedoms.
FIRE’s assessment:
“Middle Tennessee State University is the latest school to earn a “green light” rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Only 68 colleges and universities nationwide receive this rating, which is reserved for institutions with no written policies that seriously imperil student free speech rights.
“MTSU has had a unique commitment to the First Amendment for nearly 40 years. The university is home to the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, which promotes awareness of the First Amendment and quality journalism in Tennessee, and the Free Speech Center, a leading online resource. The Free Speech Center houses the First Amendment Encyclopedia, a widely used collection of about 1,700 articles on First Amendment topics, court cases, and history, as well as many other educational initiatives. (Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center, is also a member of FIRE’s Legal Advisory Council.)
“In addition to these on-campus initiatives, in 2018 the board of trustees adopted the “Chicago Statement,” a robust articulation of an institution’s commitment to free speech. Universities that adopt the policy promise not to “shield individuals from free speech, including ideas and opinions they find offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed.”
“MTSU joins the University of Tennessee-Knoxville as the only other school in Tennessee to earn a green-light rating.
“Despite these outward commitments, MTSU still maintained several vague policies that earned the institution a “yellow light” rating from FIRE. But over the past several years, MTSU made policy changes progressing toward an overall green light rating. This spring, the university completed the process by revising policies governing violence on campus, emails, and the use of amplified sound.
“The tweaks may seem minor, but they have a big impact because the revised policies no longer pose a threat to student rights. The revised Violence on Campus policy balances freedom of expression with the obligation to prevent physical violence on campus. Under this policy, only speech that constitutes a true threat — defined as a statement where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals — is prohibited.
“MTSU also improved its amplified-sound guidelines by deleting a provision that banned ‘offensive language,’ which could have easily been abused to censor disfavored but protected expression on campus. And the revised Electronic Mail Acceptable Use policy clarifies that “annoying” emails are permitted, but harassment via email is not.”
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