The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is giving UMass Lowell its “red light” rating, saying the university’s online policy restricts free speech.
FIRE each month calls out a university policy for its “Speech Code of the Month,” and this month UMass Lowell is highlighted for the school’s Acceptable Use Policy — which bans students from intentionally transmitting, communicating or accessing “offensive” material.
“Since much of what you see online could be called offensive by someone, the policy bans protected speech,” said Laura Beltz, FIRE’s director of policy reform.
“The Supreme Court has held, time and time again, that the government can’t restrict speech just because someone finds it offensive,” she said.
A university’s Acceptable Use Policy governs the use of computing and networking resources at the school.
Under the “prohibitive actions” section of UMass Lowell’s Acceptable Use Policy, FIRE is citing the rule that states, “Use information technology resources or services for intentionally transmitting, communicating or accessing pornographic or sexually explicit material, images, text or other offensive material except when clearly required to do so in the course of their work.”
FIRE noted that in the Supreme Court case Texas v. Johnson, the Supreme Court held that burning the American flag was protected speech.
“The government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable,” the Supreme Court ruled.
“So whether you’re burning an American flag at a protest or just advocating for or against flag burning on Twitter, expression can’t be limited just because someone was offended by it,” Beltz said.
Colleges and universities routinely ban offensive speech in campus speech codes, especially in information technology policies, according to FIRE.
“UMass Lowell couldn’t possibly take action every time someone views or retweets something subjectively offensive over university Wi-Fi — every single student, and probably every professor, would be on trial,” FIRE said. “But a policy like this makes it all too easy for the university to crack down on select, disfavored speech.”
“FIRE stands ready to assist UMass Lowell — as well as any other colleges and universities with restrictive speech codes — in revising its policies,” the free speech group later added.
By receiving FIRE’s worst, “red light” rating, UMass Lowell is now in the bottom 18.5 percent of schools rated in FIRE’s Spotlight database. This is UMass Lowell’s only red light policy.
A UMass Lowell spokesperson said in a statement on Monday, “Computing and networking resources are intended to support the academic, research and business needs of the University community. UMass Lowell continually reviews all university policies to adhere to national best practices consistent with local, state and federal law.”
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