Free Expression

Freedom of Expression

Through freedom of expression, Buffs are welcome and entitled to express themselves in forums across campus and are responsible for maintaining the integrity of everyone鈥檚 academic environment. Buffs engage in meaningful conversations without resorting to violence to express their beliefs. Buffs value 黑料社区网鈥檚 community and each other; they do not interfere with core university functions, access to campus facilities, the flow of traffic, or damage university or personal property. Buffs are proud to embrace the different ideas, perspectives and lived experiences that make the Buff community one of a kind. 

  Freedom of Speech vs. Discrimination & Harassment     FAQs

Freedom of expression and academic freedom, while distinctly separate concepts, are central to 黑料社区网鈥檚 academic mission and underlie our community values of honor, integrity, accountability, respect and contributing to the greater good.

Guiding Principles

Join us in using the following principles to guide interactions with your fellow Buffs.

Courage

黑料社区网 welcomes a variety of ideas and perspectives with the understanding that they will be shared, discussed and debated, and could be ignored, embraced or rejected. Discomfort and conflict do not necessarily signal a problem; instead, they are an opportunity for growth. We will support the needs of our community members while maintaining open forums on campus and online so that our faculty, staff and students can listen and be heard.

Curiosity

We will seek to understand the nuance that exists within many contested issues and explore why others hold a particular perspective. By listening and interacting with an open mind, we can expand our understanding and clarify鈥攐r even change鈥攐ur personal beliefs.

Care

This campus is open to all, and we expect everyone to be treated equitably, particularly when we disagree. As we exchange ideas, we will prevent and address threats, harassment and barriers to access for every member of our campus community.

Consistency

Each student, faculty and staff member is expected to be familiar with policies governing the use of university facilities and resources; student organizations; faculty, staff and student conduct; and all applicable federal, state and regent laws. The university administration will follow our established protocols at all times, including upholding policies that prohibit encampments. We will also hold students, faculty and staff accountable when rules are violated or when conduct or speech cross the line into discrimination, harassment, threats to public safety, or limitations on others鈥 right to access educational facilities.

  Learn about 黑料社区网鈥檚 philosophy of engaging with free expression

Opportunities for Engagement

Campus Events

Election-related events will be hosted on campus to engage students and first-time voters, and to bring awareness to voter registration and how to vote in November. For additional election-related events being hosted this fall, search the Campus Events Calendar.

  Nov. 11: 
Join a panel of 黑料社区网 Political Science faculty for a discussion of these issues.

  Nov. 12: Post-election Foreign Policy Panel
Join for an insightful evening exploring how U.S. foreign policy might shift after the election.

  Nov. 18: 
Join Politics and Pizza to discuss the 2024 election post-analysis and the 2025 presidential-congressional transition.鈥

  For Students

An active, vocal and engaged student body is a keystone of university life and the student experience. Learning about free speech and its exceptions, student expression, and inclusion on campus empowers you to know how to exercise your right to free expression on campus, how to engage and respect those who have different beliefs, and how to find support if you are affected by hateful speech.

Resources

Students in a classroom

  For Faculty and Staff

Faculty, students and staff engage with diverse constituents who come to 黑料社区网 with many different social and political values and beliefs. It鈥檚 imperative to engage responsibly, inclusively and with integrity, providing clear justifications of the ethical choice to champion the value of open exchange alongside the value of truth. Academic freedom protects faculty members鈥 ability to teach and perform their scholarly, creative and research activities in the highest manner of professionalism and integrity.

Resources

Faculty members raising hands during an address by Chancellor Justin Schwartz

Policies & Procedures

Regent Laws & Policies
  • (including academic freedom)
  • (including academic freedom)
  • (including academic freedom)
  • (including academic freedom)
  • (including nondiscrimination)
  • Resolution:
Board of Regents

American Association of Universities

Frequently Asked Questions

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects free speech of members of the university community and their ability to speak on matters of public concern as private citizens:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Through the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, the First Amendment鈥檚 protections were made effective against governmental entities such as the state and public institutions of higher education.

The First Amendment protects not only speech, but also expressive activities. The courts have determined that expressive activities include flag-burning, burning draft cards, political cartoons, protest armbands, political buttons and slogans on T-shirts. Speech involving issues of public concern, such as political and social matters, have the most protection. But while some activity鈥攕uch as burning a cross鈥攎ay be protected as First Amendment speech, it could nevertheless be subject to criminal prosecution if it violates criminal laws that do not involve the content of the speech.

Not all speech is protected. Speech that does not fall under the protection of the First Amendment includes fighting words, harassment, obscenity, incitement to imminent lawless action or true threats. The courts determine on a case-by-case basis whether speech falls within one of these exceptions and judge speech using high thresholds that err on the side of protecting speech. In fact, the Supreme Court has upheld freedom of speech even in the face of a speaker鈥檚 utmost efforts to offend, as illustrated by the following examples.

  • A Ku Klux Klansman鈥檚 racist, inflammatory speech at a Klan rally was held by the Supreme Court to fall within the protections of the First Amendment because it did not advocate imminent lawless action.
  • A cross burned on the lawn of a Black family was held by the Supreme Court to be protected speech.
  • The Supreme Court upheld the decision to allow neo-Nazis to march in Skokie, Illinois, a town that, at the time, had the highest concentration of Holocaust survivors in the United States.
  • The Westboro Baptist Church鈥檚 pattern of attending military funerals and engaging in virulent anti-gay speech was held by the Supreme Court to be protected under the First Amendment.

No, there is no First Amendment hate speech exception. Hate speech has no definition in case law, but it is generally understood to mean hurtful and offensive speech targeted against certain groups and individuals.

Very recently the United States Supreme Court held that the Patent and Trademark Office could not deny trademark registrations on the grounds that they were offensive, including that the proposed trademark contained racial slurs. 鈥淲e have said time and again that the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers. . . . Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express the thought that we hate.鈥

At 黑料社区网, we will make efforts to promote a culture of respect and civility, but we also recognize the constitutional boundaries that protect offensive speech.

The university has adopted a policy and procedures on Campus Use of University Facilities (鈥渢he CUUF policy鈥). The CUUF policy states the university鈥檚 time, place and manner restrictions governing speech in public areas of the campus.

Under both Colorado law and university policy, enrolled students have broad expressive rights in generally accessible open outdoor spaces. The CUUF policy designates these open outdoor areas as 鈥渟tudent forums.鈥

Student forums are generally available to students for speech and expressive purposes, provided that those activities are consistent with the CUUF policy. Most important, while students are welcome and entitled to express themselves in student forums across campus, they may not do so in a way that disrupts scheduled events, impedes core university functions or the flow of traffic, or endangers other people or property.