MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University is now among 68 universities nationwide that have received a “green light” rating for free speech from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, better known as FIRE.

A national free-speech advocacy organization, FIRE says the green light rating is reserved for institutions with “no written policies that seriously imperil student free speech rights.”

“In my more than two decades leading this institution, it has always been a top priority for this campus to maintain a welcoming environment to the free expression of ideas,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee. “Moreover, being able to freely explore, debate and discuss these ideas is an essential component of what it means to be a successful scholar, an engaged citizen and a well-rounded human being.”

MTSU has had a unique commitment to the First Amendment for nearly 40 years and is home to the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, which promotes awareness of the First Amendment and quality journalism in Tennessee. The university is also home to the Free Speech Center, an online resource that houses the First Amendment Encyclopedia, a widely used collection of about 1,700 articles on First Amendment topics, court cases, history and many other educational initiatives.

Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center and member of FIRE’s legal advisory council, said vague policies previously prevented the university from receiving a green light rating from FIRE.

“Improving MTSU’s speech policies did not take heavy lifting,” Paulson said. “It was done by tweaking fewer than a half-dozen phrases without changing the university’s original intent.” 

For example, the revised violence on campus policy balances freedom of expression with the obligation to prevent physical violence on campus. Under this policy, only speech that constitutes a “true threat,” defined as “a statement where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals,” is prohibited.

MTSU also improved its amplified sound guidelines by deleting a provision that banned “offensive language,” which could have easily been abused to censor disfavored but protected expression on campus. The revised Electronic Mail Acceptable Use policy also clarifies that “annoying” emails are permitted, but harassment via email is not. 

“I’m pleased that the university, under the guidance of our Free Speech Center and Director Ken Paulson, has been able to work with FIRE on these relatively minor updates to our speech guidelines to ensure our students have the speech protections they deserve and to achieve this ‘green light’ rating,” McPhee said.

FIRE senior program officer Mary Griffin worked with MTSU on the revisions that improved the university’s previous “yellow light” rating to green.

“MTSU students are now free to express themselves through protest, demonstration, and other means under the school’s revised policies, which promise not to censor students based on what they say,” said Griffin. “We are elated to see MTSU respect and protect students’ expressive rights while other schools are finding reasons to silence and hamper student speech.”

Learn more about the Free Speech Center at https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/. You may subscribe to the center’s biweekly newsletter that offers a digest of First Amendment and news media-related topics. https://bit.ly/3kG9uiJ.

About FIRE

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them. FIRE regularly works with colleges and universities — free of charge — to revise their policies to ensure they meet First Amendment standards.

—   DeAnn Hays (deann.hays@mtsu.edu)