Ohio Administrative Code › Title 3349 - Northeast Ohio Medical University › Chapter 3349-3 - Faculty Rules › Section 3349-3-202 - Free speech on campus

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A)
								Purpose
The purpose of this rule is to
				establish a free speech rule on the NEOMED campus. Section 3345.0215 of the
				Revised Code requires each public university in Ohio to adopt a rule on campus
				free speech that is consistent with and adheres to the principles set forth
				within it.
(B)
								Scope
This rule applies to NEOMED students,
				student groups, and faculty, and is established to safeguard their ability to
				express and respond to disparate views.
(C)
								Rule
			 statement
(1)
									Students have a fundamental constitutional right to free
			 speech.
(2)
									A state institution of higher education shall be
			 committed to giving students broad latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge,
			 learn, and discuss any issue, subject to paragraph (D) (10) of this
			 rule.
(3)
									A state institution of higher education shall be
			 committed to maintaining a campus 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
			 institution's community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent,
			 disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or
			 wrong-headed.
(4)
									It is for a state institution of higher education'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.
(5)
									It is not the
			 proper role of a state institution of higher education to attempt to shield
			 individuals from free speech, including ideas and opinions they find offensive,
			 unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional,
			 radical, or wrongheaded.
(6)
									Although a state institution of higher education should
			 greatly value civility and mutual respect, concerns about civility and mutual
			 respect shall never be used by an institution 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.
(7)
									Although all
			 students and all faculty are free to state their own views about and contest
			 the views expressed on campus, and to state their own views about and contest
			 speakers who are invited to express their views on the campus of a state
			 institution of higher education, 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, a state institution of higher
			 education has a responsibility to promote a lively and fearless freedom of
			 debate and deliberation and protect that freedom.
(8)
									A state
			 institution of higher education shall be 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.
(9)
									The primary
			 responsibility of faculty is to engage in an honest, courageous, and persistent
			 effort to search out and communicate the truth and counter untruths that lie in
			 the areas of their competence.
(10)
									This rule shall
			 not be construed to impair any right or activity, including speech, protest, or
			 assembly protected by the United States Constitution. The university may,
			 however, impose the following measures, which do not violate the first
			 amendment to the United States constitution or the Ohio Constitution, such
			 as:
(a)
										Constitutional time, place, and manner
			 restrictions;
(b)
										Reasonable and viewpoint-neutral restrictions in
			 nonpublic forums;
(c)
										Restricting the use of NEOMED property to protect the
			 free speech rights of students and faculty and preserve the use of the property
			 for the advancement of the university's mission;
(d)
										Prohibiting or
			 limiting speech, expression, or assemblies that are not protected by the first
			 amendment to the United States constitution or Ohio constitution;
			 or
(e)
										Content restrictions that are reasonably related to a
			 legitimate pedagogical purpose, such as classroom rules enacted by
			 faculty.
(11)
									Complaints regarding violations of this rule
(a)
										A student,
			 student group, or faculty member may submit a complaint about an alleged
			 violation of this rule by an employee of the university.
(b)
										Complaints
			 alleging a faculty member violated this rule should be submitted via email to
			 freespeech@neomed.edu.
(c)
										The process for reviewing complaints, which shall
			 comply with standards adopted by the chancellor of the department of higher
			 education, will include an investigation of the alleged violation, and a fair
			 and impartial hearing.
(d)
										 If the hearing determines this rule was violated, the
			 university shall determine a resolution to address the violation and prevent
			 any further violation of this rule, which may include discipline of the
			 employee, up to and including termination of
			 employment.