How One JMU Student Worked to Eliminate Restrictive Speech Codes

James Madison University is one of the few schools to have FIRE’s “green light” rating, but JMU wasn’t always a green light school. In October 2009, FIRE began working with James Madison University students to reform the school’s restrictive speech codes. In this video interview, JMU alumnus and former FIRE intern Luke Wachob explains how, over the course of two years, he worked with his peers to revise campus speech codes, turning JMU’s “red light” to green. A speech code is any university regulation or policy that prohibits expression that would be protected by the First Amendment in society at large. It takes students like Luke to change repressive speech codes. Check out your school’s speech code rating by visiting our Spotlight database, and contact FIRE to start reforming your school’s red or “yellow light” rating!