(1)
Pursuant to section 3345.0215 of the Revised Code, the
university affirms the following principles on free speech:
(a)
Students have a
fundamental constitutional right to free speech.
(b)
The university is
committed to giving students broad latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge,
learn, and discuss any issue, subject to division (E) of section 3345.0215 of
the Revised Code.
(c)
The university is 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.
(d)
It is for the
university'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.
(e)
It is not the proper role of the university 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.
(f)
Although the
university should greatly value civility and mutual respect, concerns about
civility and mutual respect shall never be used by the university 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.
(g)
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 university's campus, 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, the university has a responsibility to
promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation and protect
that freedom.
(h)
The university 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.
(i)
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.
(2)
Nothing contained in this policy shall be construed as
prohibiting the university from imposing measures that do not violate the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Sections 3 and 11 of
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 the university's property to
protect the free speech rights of students and teachers 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 Article I, Sections 3 and 11 of
the Ohio Constitution;
(e)
Content restrictions on speech that are reasonably
related to a legitimate pedagogical purpose, such as classroom rules enacted by
teachers.
(3)
Nothing in this policy shall be construed to grant
students the right to disrupt previously scheduled or reserved activities
occurring in a traditional public forum.
(4)
Nothing in this
policy shall be interpreted as restricting or impairing the university's
obligations under federal law including, but not limited to, Title IV of the
Higher Education Act of 1965, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1962, Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Age
Discrimination Act of 1975 as addressed through its non-discrimination and
Title IX policies.