Carnegie Mellon University Policy on Freedom of Expression

Relevant Excerpt

Carnegie Mellon University values the freedoms of speech, thought, expression and assembly - in themselves and as part of our core educational and intellectual mission. If individuals are to cherish freedom, they must experience it. The very concept of freedom assumes that people usually choose wisely from a range of available ideas and that the range and implications of ideas cannot be fully understood unless we hold vital our rights to know, to express, and to choose. The university must be a place where all ideas may be expressed freely and where no alternative is withheld from consideration. The only limits on these freedoms are those dictated by law and those necessary to protect the rights of other members of the University community and to ensure the normal functioning of the University.

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On Carnegie Mellon's campus, anyone may distribute printed material, offer petitions for signature, make speeches, and hold protests or demonstrations outside university buildings. Members of the campus community have a right to hear, see, and experience diverse intellectual and creative inquiry, whether from speakers from within our own community or from guest speakers invited by a recognized campus organization. Defending that right to hear, see and experience such expression is a fundamental obligation of the university. Controversy cannot be permitted to abridge the freedoms of speech, thought, expression or assembly. They are not matters of convenience, but of necessity.

All activities under this Policy must be peaceful, avoiding acts or credible threats of physical violence and preserving the normal operation of the university. No event will be permitted to harm others, damage or deface property, block access to university buildings or disrupt classes or operations of any university program or activity. These conditions are content neutral in their application to any message or sponsorship of the act or event.