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The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, supports the rights of our campus community to express freely their views for or against actions and opinions with which they agree or disagree. The safety of our campus community is our first priority.

The University of Tennessee recognizes and protects members of our campus community’s right to free speech in accordance with the First Amendment, Campus Free Speech Protection Act and Board of Trustees policy. In doing so, we must first protect our community’s physical safety, as well as preserve our property for the advancement of the University’s principal missions of teaching, research, and service. The law and university policy, including the Code of Conduct, will guide our actions.

We want to make sure members of our community are aware of allowable and prohibited actions during free expression activities.

Allowable Actions

Expressing viewpoints 

According to the Campus Free Speech Protection Act passed by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by then Gov. Bill Haslam in 2017, the university should be maintained as a marketplace for ideas, and “it is not the proper role of an institution to attempt to shield individuals from free speech, including ideas and opinions they find offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed.”

The university may impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions regarding any free expression activity. Restrictions are content-neutral and can include specific areas of campus where the demonstrations are allowed to take place, time limits on demonstrations, noise level limits, capping the number of participants allowed, or restricting the size and placement of signs. See Hilltopics for the policy on Freedom of Assembly and Demonstration.

The Rock

The Rock is an area of free speech and free expression and has long been used to share thoughts, ideas, artwork, advertisements, events, and messages. People can paint on the Rock at any time. You can review the policy on the UT Policy Central website.

 

Campus map

Map of University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus

  • The orange lines on the map indicate university-owned streets.
    • Anyone (students, faculty, staff and people with no affiliation to the university) can use the sidewalks parallel to university-owned streets for free expression activities unless they have a no-trespass directive for campus.
  • The blue lines on the map indicate city-owned streets
    • Anyone (students, faculty, staff and people with no affiliation to the university) can use the sidewalks parallel to city-owned streets for free expression activities. 
  • The red lines on the map indicate state-owned streets
    • If sidewalks are available, anyone can use the sidewalks parallel to state-owned streets for free expression activities.

Students

  • Students can generally spontaneously assemble and distribute literature peacefully in outdoor areas of campus that are generally open and accessible except in places that have been previously reserved by others. The activities must:
    • Be conducted in an orderly and peaceful manner.
    • In no way obstruct vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
    • Not interfere with classes, scheduled meetings, events, and ceremonies or with other essential processes of the university.
  • The university does not regulate these free expression activities on the basis of viewpoint.
  • Planned events and meetings are overseen by the Office of Campus Event Services, which manages the reservation process for campus space. Only meetings which have been approved in advance may be held:
    • Within university buildings, and must occur in the assigned meeting room at the assigned times.
    • Within university stadiums.
    • Adjacent to residential or academic facilities of the campus.
    • Meetings which would impose an unusual demand upon staff or facilities must have approval regardless of where they are held on campus (1720-01-08).

Faculty

  • A faculty member using a university limited public forum in the exercise of his or her academic freedom may invite a non-affiliated person to participate in the faculty member’s free expression activities (1720-1-12-.04). 
  • Activities are subject to time, manner, and place restrictions. Restrictions are content-neutral and can include specific areas of campus where free expression activities are allowed to take place, time limits on activities, noise level limits, capping the number of protesters allowed, or restricting the size and placement of signs. The faculty member who invites the non-affiliated person is responsible for ensuring that the non-affiliated person knows about the restrictions. The appearance of a non-affiliated person on campus is not an endorsement by the university. Learn more about the policy on use of university property by non-affiliated persons for free expression activities.
  • Planned events and meetings are overseen by the Office of Campus Event Services, which manages the reservation process for campus space. Only meetings which have been approved in advance may be held (1720-01-08):
    • Within university buildings, and must occur in the assigned meeting room during the assigned times.
    • Within university stadiums.
    • Adjacent to residential or academic facilities of the campus.

All university employees

  • The University of Tennessee holds an institutional neutrality policy. A position of institutional neutrality is not intended to limit the speech of the University’s community acting or speaking as individuals in their own names and not in the name of the university.
  • Institutional neutrality allows the university to be a true marketplace of ideas in which students, faculty, and staff have the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, learn, and discuss any issue.
  • When acting in a personal capacity as a citizen, an employee of the University speaks publicly or writes for publication, the employee shall take care to ensure that the employee’s statements are not reasonably interpreted as being made on behalf of the university.
  • As employees of a state institution, there are state laws and University of Tennessee System policies that govern our engagement in campaigns and political activity while in our official capacity.
    • University employees are subject to the UT System’s policy on State and Federal Government Relations Activities. This policy addresses the official representation of the University when contacting government officials. It does not restrict personal expression on personal time using personal resources.
    • University employees are also subject to the Little Hatch Act, a Tennessee state law that regulates the political activities of state employees, including that state employees are prohibited from using their official position, authority, or influence to interfere with an election or nomination for office. This includes activities like displaying campaign materials on state property, using state resources for political purposes, and engaging in political activities during work hours.

Non-affiliated persons

  • A non-affiliated person means any person or entity who is not a university unit, student, student organization, employee, or volunteer.
  • A non-affiliated person can include a speaker or guests invited to campus for official campus events.
    • Registered student organizations or faculty using a University limited public forum can invite people not affiliated with the university to participate in their free speech activities.
    • A non-affiliated person invited to campus by a student organization or faculty member is a guest of that organization or faculty member, and their appearance on campus is not an endorsement by the university. 
    • Learn more about the policy on use of university property by non-affiliated persons for free expression activities.
  • Non-affiliated individuals and speakers not invited to campus
    • Non-affiliated individuals can participate in free expression activities on public streets and sidewalks owned by the City of Knoxville, which are marked in blue on the map above.
    • The fact that the university has rented a facility to a group not affiliated with the university or allowed a group to speak on campus does not mean that the university has approved of or endorsed the group’s message.
    • Learn more about the policy on use of university property by non-affiliated persons for free expression activities.

University units

  • A university unit is any academic, administrative, or auxiliary department or division of the university or any other official entity of the university, functioning through university employees acting within the scope of their university employment.
  • A university unit may invite a non-affiliated person to participate in free speech activities in connection with an official activity of the unit. For example, a lecture, presentation, debate, panel, or symposium. The head of the university unit must determine that the non-affiliated person’s participation would advance one or more of the university’s principal missions of teaching, research, and service. Because the head of the unit is deciding how to use university property to advance the university’s mission, this is considered government speech. The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment does not apply. Learn more about the policy on use of university property by non-affiliated persons for free.

 

Examples of Actions Prohibited by Law or University Policy

  • Prohibited actions apply to anyone on the university’s campus regardless of their affiliation.
  • Physical altercation or violence
  • Use of weapons
  • Threats of harm
  • Harassment and/or discrimination
  • Obstructing vehicle or pedestrian traffic
  • Interfering with or disrupting university operations, such as classes, meetings, and events, including by excessive noise
  • Camping on public property (TCA 39-14-414)
    • State law, in part, prohibits “erecting, placing, maintaining, leaving, allowing to remain, or using a piece of furniture, tent, raised tarp, or other temporary shelter, structure, or furniture at any time between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.”
    • State law also prohibits “making preparations to sleep” at any time of day, including “laying down a sleeping bag, blanket, or other material used for bedding.”
  • Littering

We ask that our entire campus community, including visitors to our campus, express themselves civilly. We are committed to maintaining a safe campus where everyone’s rights are protected.

 

 

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