Claremont McKenna College, a private college in Claremont, Calif., just received a green speech code rating, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s campus free speech rating system. This makes CMC the first school in California to earn this rating.
According to FIRE, “If a college or university’s policies do not seriously imperil speech, that college or university receives a ‘green light.’”
There are only 38 schools across the U.S. that also hold a green light rating. In fact, most of the schools in California rated by FIRE hold policies that threaten the First Amendment rights of students and faculty. Five schools in the state hold a “red light” rating while 35 schools hold a “yellow light” rating, according to FIRE’s Spotlight on Speech Codes 2018 report.
“A green light does not indicate that a school actively supports free expression. It simply means that FIRE is not currently aware of any serious threats to students’ free speech rights in the policies on that campus,” the speech code explains.
“Claremont McKenna is the first college in California to fully achieve what many colleges only pay lip service to: a commitment to student and faculty speech,” Samantha Harris, FIRE’s vice president of policy research, said in a press release. “We hope CMC’s efforts to stand up for the free exchange of ideas on campus inspires other institutions in the state to follow suit.”
Administrators at Claremont McKenna worked with FIRE to update their policies and adopt a version of the Chicago Statement, a model for policies regarding First Amendment rights on college campuses.
“It really was just a couple of minor technical adjustments to some of our existing policies, really just a couple of word additions and changes,” Peter Hong, associate vice president for public affairs and communications at Claremont McKenna, told Red Alert Politics.
However, these seemingly minor adjustments were responsible for removing Claremont McKenna from a group of schools with absurd free speech zones (such as Virginia State University) and policies that clearly violate the First Amendment (such as Southern Illinois University Edwardsville).
“The green light rating is a reflection of the strong free speech culture that already existed here and it’s really a recognition of our practices, rather than something new,” Hong said. “We want to continue to promote a culture of diversity of opinion and free expression on our campus because that’s essential to the kind of academic, social, and culture environment that we want to have here.”
That sentiment is shared by students who have been advocating for such a change since they first stepped foot on campus. According to Claremont McKenna’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter president Taylor Frank, students at CMC are already pro-free speech and in favor of upholding the First Amendment.
“The green light rating will probably make the school more appealing for pro-liberty students to apply here,” Frank told Red Alert Politics. “It’ll make the campus a safer place to voice various competing opinions, and because all opinions can be safely voiced, students should be able to choose from the best opinions”.
CMC now has extensive policies that protect First Amendment rights on campus, expressing the sentiments of upholding “diversity of thought, debate, and dialogue in civil discourse.”
