First Amendment

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects individuals’ freedom of speech and expression, stating: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”.

Ohio State is steadfastly committed to protecting the right to free speech and expression on our campuses. The First Amendment and Ohio law protects the rights of students, faculty, staff, and visitors at the university to lawfully engage in activities.

These freedoms cannot be limited based on viewpoint but may be restricted in some contexts. The university may adopt and enforce time, place and manner restrictions for speech and expressive activities, like the university space standards and university signage standards. These content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions are in place to ensure that the university’s teaching, learning, research, service and patient care missions can occur without interruption.

The First Amendment protects spoken, written and symbolic speech, as well as expressive activity, regardless of the content. What a person says, wears, reads or performs is generally protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects speech that is offensive, hateful or upsetting unless it falls into a category that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined is unprotected.

Yes, there are limits to the protections afforded by the First Amendment. Whether speech is protected requires a detailed, fact specific analysis. In general, the First Amendment does not protect individuals from engaging in violence, true threats, the incitement of violence and harassment.

• True threats: “True threats encompass those statements 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… The speaker need not actually intend to carry out the threat.” Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343 (2003).
• Incitement of violence: Speech that “advocates the use of force or of law violation” is protected by the First Amendment “except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969).
• Harassment: Harassment is defined in the university’s Nondiscrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct policy as unwelcome verbal or physical conduct based on a protected class that interferes with, denies or limits an individual’s ability to participate in or benefit from the university’s educational programs and activities.  Harassment can take two forms: power differentials (quid pro quo) or hostile environment.

Read additional information about protected and unprotected speech.

Although not specifically defined by the U.S. Supreme Court, “hate speech” is generally considered speech or expression that targets an individual or group of people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be censored, punished or unduly burdened by a university unless it falls into a category that is unprotected by the First Amendment, such as a true threat or harassment.

Making anyone feel unwelcome on our campus is unacceptable.

Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws as a form of political protest. The First Amendment does not permit individuals to break the law or violate university policies or rules.

The university may place content- and viewpoint-neutral time, place and manner restrictions on activities to ensure health, safety and welfare and to prevent disruption of teaching, learning, research, service and patient care on our campuses.

For example, the university may limit the use of amplified sound on campus during specific hours or dates. However, it may not place the restriction on the use of amplified sound on the basis or the content of a group’s speech. Rather, the rules must apply to users of the space regardless of the content or viewpoint of their speech.

Generally speaking, the university cannot punish someone for saying false or offensive things unless the offensive or false speech rises to speech that is unprotected.

Academic freedom and intellectual diversity have been hallmarks of the ethic of Ohio State since it opened its doors in 1873. The university is committed to promoting frank, open and respectful discussion about the issues of freedom of thought and expression.

Academic freedom is defined at the university  in Faculty Rule 3335-5-01 as the “freedom of faculty to: (1) Teach, conduct research, and publish research findings; (2) Discuss in classrooms, in their own manner, any material that is relevant to the subject matter as defined in the course syllabus; (3) Exercise their constitutional rights as citizens without institutional censorship or discipline; and (4) Seek changes in academic and institutional policies through lawful and peaceful means.” With academic freedom comes interrelated academic responsibilities detailed in the Faculty Rule, including meeting teaching, research and service responsibilities; encouraging students and colleagues to engage in free discussion and inquiry; and differentiating between official activities as faculty and personal activities as citizens.

Statements or comments that are perceived to be threatening should be reported to the Ohio State University Police Division. Statements or comments that are harassing and are targeted to individuals or groups based on a protected class, such as race, religion, sex or gender, may be a violation of Ohio State’s Non-Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct policy which provides that “Ohio State does not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDS status, military status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status, or any other bases under the law, in its education program or activity, which includes employment.” Incidents of harassment, discrimination or retaliation should be reported to the Office of Institutional Equity by using the reporting form at https://equity.osu.edu.

The university has a Campus Free Speech policy. Complaints of alleged violations can be made to Office of University Compliance and Integrity via e-mail at compliance-integrity@osu.edu or through the university anonymous EthicsPoint reporting system either through the link or at 866-294-9350. The university also has a Free Speech and Harassment Policy which can be found at:  https://freedomofexpression.osu.edu/documents/orc-3345-0212-harassment-policy-00396131xb7a09.PDF.