We Took a Look at Ivy League Speech Codes… It Doesn’t Look Great

The Ivy League schools are some of the most prestigious schools in the world. For the class of 2021, 281,060 applications were received by the Ivy League schools. From these applicants, only 22,805 were accepted. That is an acceptance rate of about 8%.

Furthermore, according to Forbes Magazine, half of all the Supreme Court Justices and about one third of all U.S. Presidents attended an Ivy Leagues school. On top of that, business leaders like Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, and Lowell C. McAdam, CEO of Verizon, also attended Ivy League schools. It is clear that tomorrow’s leaders are being churned at these prestigious universities.

With this in mind, what is the state of free expression and free speech on these campuses? Is there a boisterous exchange of ideas on campus or do these campuses keep their students under strict scrutiny? To answer this question, we turned to the Foundation of Individual rights in Education (FIRE), an organization that is on the front lines of defending free speech and due process on campuses today. FIRE not only brings lawsuits to schools infringing on the rights of students, but provides a nifty spotlight database that rates schools based on their speech codes. With this spotlight, they have four ratings:

• Red – school has codes that clearly restrict free speech
• Yellow – school has codes that could be used to restrict free speech due to vague wording.
• Green – no policies known to restrict free speech
• Warning – school does not promise free speech (in the cases of private schools)

It is important to keep in mind that all the Ivy League schools are private schools, and they do not have an obligation to uphold the first amendment or constitutional rulings on their campus. However, many of the Ivy League schools promise free speech. If free and open exchange is promised, it should be provided.

Unfortunately, free speech is not looking great at Ivy League institutions. Half of them have yellow ratings, three have red ratings, and only one of them has a green rating. Is free speech in danger at the world’s most prestigious institutions?

1. Cornell University – Yellow

What are they doing wrong?

• Event registration rules
• General policies for student organizations
• Harassment, discrimination, and bias reporting
• House rules

2. Harvard University – Red

What are they doing wrong?

• Harassment policies
• Regulations for independent student organizations with publicity
• Sexual and gender based harassment policy
• Regulations for independent student organizations with religion
• Free speech guidelines

3. Dartmouth College – Red

What are they doing wrong?

• Acceptable IT use policy
• Report bias policies

4. Brown University – Yellow

What are they doing wrong?

• Harassment policies
• Acceptable IT use policy
• Acceptable IT use examples
• Code of student conduct

Also, check out We The Internet’s great documentary on free speech at Brown University.

5. Yale University – Yellow

What are they doing wrong?

• Prop weapon and stage combat policy
• Definitions of sexual misconduct, consent, and harassment
• Student complaint procedures
• Appropriate IT use policy
• General conduct and discipline
• Guidance regarding free expression and peaceable assembly

We The Internet also has a documentary on free speech at Yale.

6. Columbia University – Yellow

What are they doing wrong?

• Gender based misconduct policy
• Bias and discrimination response protocol
• Email usage policy

7. Princeton University – Red

What are they doing wrong?

• Sex discrimination and sexual misconduct
• Acceptable IT use policy
• Respect for others policy
• Peaceful dissent, protests, and demonstrations policy
• Distribution of written materials policy

8. University of Pennsylvania – Green

It looks like Penn is the only school that gets it right according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education! Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising as Penn is in the same city as FIRE’s headquarters.

If you are a student that wants to make a difference at the Ivy League schools or any campus and you think your school has improper speech codes, submit a case to FIRE. Furthermore, Students For Liberty has many resources that can help you take up the torch of liberty on campus. If you think you have what it takes to fight for freedom, join the Campus Coordinator Program.