The University of Toledo became freer this year, according to a free-speech advocacy group.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — FIRE — produces an annual ranking of speech codes at national universities. 

It ranks these policies on a scale from red to green, with yellow in between. In FIRE’s 2017 report, UT went from red to yellow.

Bowling Green State University was yellow both years.

“We strongly encourage freedom of expression and ideas in order to educate global citizens who are prepared for the real world,” said Phillip ‘Flapp’ Cockrell, the university’s interim vice president for student affairs.

In 2015, the University of Toledo landed on the radar of FIRE after complaints about how campus police handled protesters who came to a 2014 speech by Republican strategist Karl Rove.

Students said they tried to enter the room but were stopped by police. Students contended it was because they held signs.

That year, UT created a new policy to address free speech. The new policy permits petition and assembly anywhere on campus. The only caveat: Demonstrations may not disrupt teaching or operations. Notice is requested but not mandatory.

At the time, then-university spokesman Jon Strunk told the Blade only that the university had considered input from FIRE and the Arab-American Anti Discrimination Committee.

Charlie Moore, president of the University of Toledo College Democrats, said the administration had been accommodating of demonstrations and free speech on campus. He noted that two major recent protests — one against President Trump’s travel ban and another led by the Communications Workers of America chapter — went on unimpeded.

“They don’t really touch it,” he said. “They just want to be hands-off.”

In March, UT and BGSU removed flyers posted on or around their campuses by Identity Evropa, a “white separatist group.”

David Kielmeyer, a BGSU spokesman, said the school’s speech regulations were not why they the flyers were taken down, but rather their illegal placement.

“It wasn’t about the type of speech,” he said. “It was where they were posted.”

Christine Billau, a spokesman for UT, said the content of the flyers was a consideration.

“We don’t tolerate hate, racism, or intolerance.”

When speech infringes on “the rights of others,” Mr. Cockrell said, it ceases to be protected.

Vanessa McCray contributed to this report.

Contact Victorio Cabrera at vcabrera@theblade.com, 419-724-6050 or on Twitter @vomcabrera.

First Published August 5, 2017, 5:22 a.m.