College campuses are bastions of learning, free and open expression of ideas, and vigorous debate. Yet free expression can result in speech that is coarse, offensive, threatening or harassing to members of the campus community. Institutions often confront the dilemma of protecting the free expression rights of their students and faculty, while at the same time dealing with the injury that can result from hurtful or insensitive expression and their own legal obligation to prevent actionable harassment. Campus civility and anti-harassment codes are one means by which some institutions seek to address these legal obligations. Add the potential for involvement of outside interest groups, alumni and the media, and any incident of speech perceived as outrageous or offensive by some or all members of the campus community has the potential to explode into a major controversy for campus administrators.

This program will review the legal rules governing campus free expression and civility and anti-harassment codes, including a review of recent cases of particular note. The program will focus on legal and policy issues institutional counsel and administrators should consider when handling a free expression controversy on their campus, including: