But students' rights are relatively safe at UNC, said Thor Halvorssen, executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
FIRE works to defend the rights of students restricted and punished under prohibitive speech codes -- rights Halvorssen said are critical.
"When two-thirds of campuses have (manifestly) unconstitutional speech codes, I'd say there's a ferocious attack on free speech," he said.
Speech codes, or similar restrictions placed on campus activities, are used by institutions to limit students' expression
FIRE is evaluating colleges and universities across the country on how well they tolerate free speech.
Halvorssen said it is acceptable for private universities to prohibit some aspects of free speech as long as students know about restrictions before they apply. But he said public universities, which are funded by taxpayers, are obligated to be more open to free speech than private ones.
UNC is doing well in respecting the free speech rights of students, Halvorssen said. "If a student considers freedom of speech to be a paramount value, they'd be well advised to choose UNC over (other schools)."
A FIRE rating of "green" indicates that rights at a particular college or university generally are protected while a rating of "yellow" implies that speech restrictions are possible and a rating of "red" indicates that free speech is suppressed. UNC would receive a green rating, Halvorssen said.
He said the University takes a balanced stance on racial and sexual harassment, not being too restrictive or admissive. "They aren't going to turn someone's Playboy pinup into a sexual harassment case," Halvorssen said.
