American University Chief Financial Officer, Vice President and Treasurer Bronté Burleigh-Jones and Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Matt Bennett announced that revised Facilities Use and Social Media policies are now in effect in an email on Oct. 10.
Changes from the original drafts were implemented in response to comments submitted online and at four student, faculty and staff forums.
“For both policies, we acknowledged the need to add language that assures our community members that personal viewpoints on political and other issues would never be a factor in how these policies are applied,” Burleigh-Jones and Bennett said in the email.
The 20-foot building restriction on demonstrations, which students raised concern over its implementation, was removed from the Facilities Use Policy. Now, the policy states demonstration activity “meets the standard for disturbing the peace under DC law because it has the effect of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding building entrances, sidewalks, or hallways within buildings.”
The Facilities Use policy includes updated language such as changing the phrase “Assigned Units” to “Designated Units.” The revised policy also clarifies that “amplified sound and vigils are permitted on campus, so long as they don’t violate any other policies.”
The Social Media policy was updated to include examples of what University policies and adjudication procedures would be applied for registered student organization accounts. The policy now states that “[Registered student organizations’] social media activities must comply with the law, Student Conduct Code, and other University policies, including but not limited to the Discrimination and Non-Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy and the Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy.”
The revised policy also includes clearer language surrounding political statements and activity on official University accounts, clarifying that official University social media accounts are prohibited from posting content that expresses personal or political views.
The email responded to a question asked at the student forum on Sept. 9 about “defining different types of harassment in the digital space.” The email stated that the University recognizes the importance of defining harassment, but that does not fall within the Social Media policy.
The policies University President Jonathan Alger announced would be updated after rescinding the Jan. 25 directives, including the chalking, tabling and posting materials policies finalized last month, are now in effect.
The University will continue addressing this issue by engaging the community through “multiple channels, including the classroom, our The Civic Life initiative, and education sessions” and encourages the AU community to provide input on other upcoming changes to the Title IX and the Discrimination and Non-Title IX Sexual Harassment policies.
The University will continue evaluating and revising the new policies as needed and encourage community members to “continue to provide feedback to the responsible executive listed on each policy,” Burleigh-Jones and Bennett said in the email.
This article was edited by Olivia Wood, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Charlie Mennuti.
