Annual Report Ranks Free Speech Policies Of Tennessee Universities

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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

An annual report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression says that only one Tennessee public university is strong when it comes to free speech policies on campus.

The foundation’s yearly Spotlight on Speech Codes gave the University of Tennessee at Knoxville a rating of “green”, making it the only college in the state to achieve this rating. This rank means the university does not place limits on the free speech rights of students.

The report placed East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Sewanee, Tennessee Technological University, University of Memphis, and Vanderbilt University at the “yellow” mark, noting that there were “vague” restrictions on free speech and expression at those schools.

Coming in as a “red” school was Tennessee State University, which was noted for having campus policies that heavily restricted those rights of students.

While TSU has been ranked as restrictive for several years, there are two recent policies that have kept them there.

“They have a demonstration policy which is quite bad in the grand scheme of demonstration polices, as we actually don’t see a ton of (those) in schools. It requires all demonstrations to be registered, which is a pretty egregious violation of the First Amendment,” said Mary Griffin, senior program officer of policy reform for the foundation.

Griffin also cites a harassment police that “doesn’t have a discernible standard for punishment.”

TSU’s assistant vice president of public relations and communications Kelli Sharpe told The Tennessean that she is “not familiar” with the rating system or the criteria used by the organization.

“The University remains committed to fostering an environment that promotes free speech, including engaging in an ongoing review of its policies implicating free speech,” said Sharpe.

Griffin says the foundation analyzed the free speech policies of 489 schools from January to October 2023. School policies were ranked against First Amendment standards from Supreme Court case law.

Griffin admits that most of their findings remain the same from year to year, but she anticipates that changes could occur due to issues seen on campuses related to the Israel-Hamas war and the upcoming presidential election.