Purpose:
This policy reflects the commitment of Dyersburg State Community College (DSCC) to freedom of speech and expression for all students and all faculty in accordance with the Tennessee Board of Regents Policy 1:03:02:60.
Scope:
All DSCC faculty, staff and students as defined.
Policy:
A. General Principles
- Students have a fundamental constitutional right to free speech.
- DSCC is committed to giving students the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, learn, and discuss any issue, subject to constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions.
- DSCC is committed to maintaining a college as a marketplace of ideas for all students and all faculty in which the free exchange of ideas is not to be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the college community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed.
- It is for DSCC’s individual students and faculty to make judgments about ideas for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress free speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose.
- It is not the proper role of DSCC to attempt to shield individuals from free speech, including ideas and opinions they find offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed.
- Although all members of the college community should greatly value civility and mutual respect, concerns about civility and mutual respect shall never be used by DSCC as a justification for closing off the discussion of ideas, however offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed those ideas may be to some students or faculty.
- Although all students and all faculty are free to state their own views about and contest the views expressed on DSCC property, and to state their own views about and contest speakers who are invited to express their views on the college’s property, they may not substantially obstruct or otherwise substantially interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe. To this end, DSCC has a responsibility to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation and protect that freedom.
- Through shared governance with its faculty, DSCC may determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it may be taught and graded, and who may be admitted to the college as a student.
- DSCC is committed to providing an atmosphere that is most conducive to speculation, experimentation, and creation by all students and all faculty, who shall always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, and to gain new understanding.
- The primary responsibility of faculty is to engage an honest, courageous, and persistent effort to search out and communicate the truth that lies in the areas of their competence.
- Although faculty are free in the classroom to discuss subjects within areas of their competence, faculty shall be cautious in expressing personal views in the classroom and shall be careful not to introduce controversial matters that have no relationship to the subject taught, and especially matters in which they have no special competence or training and in which, therefore, faculty’s views cannot claim the authority accorded statements they make about subjects within areas of their competence; provided, that no faculty will face adverse employment action for classroom speech, unless it is not reasonably germane to the subject matter of the class as broadly construed, and comprises a substantial portion of classroom instruction.
- An institution shall maintain the generally accessible, open, outdoor areas of its property as traditional public forums for free speech by students. This does not mean that those areas must be equally available to non- students.
- DSCC shall not confine students’ free speech to certain areas of the college property, sometimes known as “free speech zones,” or otherwise create policies implying that students’ free speech is restricted to particular areas of the college property.
- DSCC shall not deny student activity fee funding to a student organization based on the viewpoints that the student organization advocates.
- DSCC shall not establish permitting requirements that prohibit spontaneous outdoor assemblies or outdoor distribution of literature, although DSCC may maintain a policy that grants members of the college community the right to reserve certain outdoor spaces in advance.
- DSCC shall not charge students security fees based on the content of their speech, the content of the speech of guest speakers invited by students, or the anticipated reaction or opposition of listeners to speech.
- DSCC shall allow all students and all faculty to invite guest speakers to college property to engage in free speech regardless of the views of guest speakers.
- DSCC shall not dis-invite a speaker invited by a student, student organization, or faculty member because the speaker’s anticipated speech may be considered offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed by students, faculty, administrators, government officials, or members of the public.
- Students do not have the right to disrupt previously scheduled or reserved activities occurring in a traditional public forum.
- DSCC is not required to fund costs associated with student speech or expression.
B. DSCC may adopt college policies that include measures that do not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 19 of the Tennessee Constitution such as:
- Constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions on assemblies, speech and expression;
- Reasonable and viewpoint-neutral restrictions in nonpublic forums;
- Restricting the use of the institution’s property to protect the free speech rights of students and faculty and preserve the use of the property for the advancement of the College’s mission;
- Prohibiting or limiting speech, expression, or assemblies that are not protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 19 of the Tennessee Constitution; or
- Content restrictions on speech that are reasonably related to a legitimate pedagogical purpose, such as classroom rules enacted by faculty.
Compliance:
C. Publication of Policy
- This policy shall be:
- Published annually in the DSCC Catalog and Student Handbook and faculty handbook, whether paper or electronic;
- Made available to students and faculty by way of a prominent notice on the DSCC webpage other than through the electronic publication of the policy in the DSCC Catalog and Student Handbook and faculty handbook;
- Sent annually to students and employees to their institutionally-provided email address; and
- Addressed by the college in orientation programs for new students and new faculty.
Definitions:
• Constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions means restrictions on the time, place, and manner of free speech that do not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 19 of the Tennessee Constitution that are reasonable, content- and viewpoint-neutral, narrowly tailored to satisfy a significant institutional interest, and leave open ample alternative channels for the communication of the information or message to its intended audience
• Faculty or faculty member means any person, whether or not the person is compensated by a public institution of higher education, and regardless of political affiliation, who is tasked with providing scholarship, academic research, or teaching. For purposes of this part, the term “faculty” shall include tenured and non-tenured professors, adjunct professors, visiting professors, lecturers, graduate student instructors, and those in comparable positions, however titled. For purposes of this part, the term “faculty” shall not include persons whose primary responsibilities are administrative or managerial.
• Free speech means speech, expression, or assemblies protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 19 of the Tennessee Constitution, verbal or written, including, but not limited to, all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, demonstrations, rallies, vigils, marches, public speaking, distribution of printed materials, carrying signs, displays, or circulating petitions. “Free speech” does not include the promotion, sale, or distribution of any product or service.
• Institution means an institution governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents.
• Student means:
- An individual currently enrolled in a course of study at the institution; and
- An organization that is comprised entirely of individuals currently enrolled in a course of study at the institution.
Revision History:
Policy written March, 2018 and approved by the DSCC Administrative Council on March 26, 2018.