• Incidents under investigation as a potential hate crime or that pose a physical safety risk to our campus community.
• Incidents that incite crime, or appear to create a hostile environment for a protected class of people, as defined by state or federal law.

• Flyers posted on campus advertising controversial speakers, political speech and hateful ideas sponsored by campus groups. While some may consider these postings hate speech, they are still protected by the First Amendment’s free speech clause.
• Personal interactions between campus community members. Allegations of discrimination or sexual misconduct should be reported to the Office of Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, & Title IX, while behavioral misconduct or disputes should be reported to the Office of the Dean of Students, Human Resources, Office for Faculty or Office for Faculty- Health Sciences. These offices are prepared to investigate, adjudicate and implement discipline.
• Inflammatory or offensive statements or ideas spoken by invited speakers, at protests and gatherings, or in classrooms. These statements are protected under the First Amendment and/or academic freedom principles.
• Incidents involving U of U Health hospitals and clinics. Such incidents typically involve patient care and are protected by HIPAA privacy rules. However, they are reported to OEO/AA and University Police for investigation and included in Clery statistics.
• Interpersonal altercations in Housing and Residential Education (HRE) that do not impact a broader community of residents.
• Criminal activity that is not intended to intimidate or terrorize based on personal attributes, as defined by state law. All criminal acts should be reported to University of Utah Police, who will investigate and provide support for victim-survivors.
• Off-campus activities (outside the university’s Clery geography, which generally extends to the streets that ring campus, including fraternity and sorority houses, athletics facilities along Guardsman Way, the LDS Church’s Institute of Religion and Ivory House housing).

Hate speech is often in the eye of the beholder. The term “hate speech” is not defined by law, and no such category exists as an exception to the First Amendment. Thus, even if speech is hateful or offensive, it is still protected by the First Amendment, unless it includes speech that is not protected (e.g., criminal threats, direct incitement to violence, obscenity, defamation).

For example, a group of protestors shouting, “From the river to the sea,” might be seen by some Jewish community members as a call for genocide and the eradication of Israel. Protestors, on the other hand, may consider the phrase protected political speech.

In other instances, flyers stating, “Men are not women,” or “Gazans hate Gays,” could be considered hate speech by members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

When these phrases and language are used campus during free speech activities or to advertise speakers and other events, the University of Utah considers the speech protected by the First Amendment.

However, if these phrases are used in one-on-one interactions between members of the campus community or are directed at individuals or identifiable groups of community members or visitors, the university may investigate these statements and postings as verbal assault or potentially illegal discrimination or harassment.

For more information, visit the Dean of Students’ Student Expression website.

safeu.utah.edu/resources