New Interim Fence Policy and Governance Guidelines

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community:

Earlier this summer, I shared the final report of the Fence Working Group, whose members were charged with considering how the Fence can continue serving as a meaningful campus tradition and a place for student expression while ensuring clarity, accountability and respect within our diverse community.

At the time, we indicated that we would use the summer months to reflect carefully on the working group’s recommendations, continue conversations with Student Government and other campus stakeholders, and develop a clearer framework to guide decision-making around the Fence. We also committed to revisiting this issue when our community returned to campus, so that the next steps could be shared with the students, faculty and staff.

Today, I am writing to share the next step in that work: the release of an Interim Fence Policy and accompanying Fence Governance Guidelines.

These documents follow numerous productive conversations between Student Government leadership and university leadership. They reflect findings from both the Fence Working Group’s report as well as thoughtful policy recommendations shared by Student Government leaders.

Taken together, the Interim Fence Policy and Fence Governance Guidelines are intended to provide a clear, predictable and viewpoint-neutral framework for decisions related to the Fence — one that honors the student-centered tradition of this landmark while recognizing the university’s legal responsibilities and our shared community values and standards.

As I have previously noted: The Fence has long stood at the heart of our Pittsburgh campus. For generations of students, it has been a place to gather, to celebrate, to share ideas and to give voice to moments in the life of the university. Its tradition is fiercely guarded, and rightly so. At its best, the Fence reflects the creativity, conviction and sense of connection that define the Carnegie Mellon student experience.

While we are not seeking to limit potentially controversial statements on the Fence, we also recognize that the Fence is a highly visible and limited medium. This reality requires us to be thoughtful in how we balance expression with the rights of listeners, the safety of our community and the responsibilities that come with speaking in a shared space.

The Interim Fence Policy makes clear several important points.

First, Student Government will continue to play its historic and essential role as the primary steward of day-to-day Fence activity. The long-standing tradition that only enrolled CMU students are authorized painters of the Fence remains in place, and Student Government will continue to regulate time, place and manner rules under their Graffiti and Poster Policy.

Second, the policy defines categories of content that are prohibited on the Fence when determined by the university’s policy experts to violate university policy or the law, or to create legal liability for the university. These include obscenity, direct threats of violence, harassment, vandalism, ad hominem attacks, and other violations of applicable university policies or laws.

Third, the policy protects against misrepresentation by making clear that painters should avoid explicitly or implicitly speaking on behalf of the broader university, the collective student body or any other individual or group without their prior knowledge or engagement.

Most importantly, the accompanying Fence Governance Guidelines establish a shared process for future decision-making. These guidelines were developed to reduce ambiguity, avoid miscommunication and make clear — before difficult cases might emerge — how Student Government and university administration will work together when concerns arise. Like the policy itself, these guidelines are also heavily based on the Fence Working Group Report and the Student Government guidelines.

Under the guidelines, interventions will fall into three categories.

Procedural interventions will address violations of existing time, place and manner rules, including vandalism or painting outside the established Fence-painting hours.
Joint interventions will be used when Student Government and university administration must determine together whether content may violate the Interim Fence Policy. These cases will be handled through a defined process of timely notification, discussion when needed and written confirmation when there is agreement that intervention is warranted.
Emergency interventions will be reserved for rare and extreme circumstances in which university administration determines that content violates university policy or law, creates legal liability for the university, or presents an immediate risk of physical harm.

In addition, Student Government and university administration will establish a Fence Intervention Database, co-owned and jointly maintained by both parties. This database will provide a transparent record of future interventions, including the date, general description, rationale and type of intervention involved. It is an important step toward greater accountability and shared understanding.

The guidelines also recognize that certain high-visibility moments — including Orientation, Family Weekend, Homecoming, Carnival and Commencement — offer opportunities for messages that support campus traditions and celebratory occasions. Student Government leadership has committed to working through their relationships with student groups and organizations to support engagement and the development of grass-roots traditions during these periods.

The Fence is deeply meaningful to our community, and this outcome is a reflection of a genuine partnership. I want to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Fence Working Group, to Student Government leaders for their thoughtful collaboration and recommendations, and to the many students, faculty, staff and alumni who have engaged on this issue with seriousness and care.

Moving forward, we will continue to gather community input on this interim policy while advancing it through our formal university policy review process. During this period, I ask every member of our community to approach this work in the spirit of what the policy calls “bilateral grace.” Difficult decisions will sometimes need to be made under time pressure and with incomplete information. When disagreements arise, our goal must be reconciliation, learning and non-recurrence — not escalation for its own sake.

Carnegie Mellon has long been a place where individuals can learn, teach, discover and disagree without jeopardizing the safety and well-being of others. Sustaining that culture requires more than policies. It requires trust. It requires care. And it requires all of us to recognize that words have power, particularly in a shared community.

The Fence will continue to be a space for student expression, creativity and connection. With these new guidelines, we are seeking to ensure that this tradition endures — with greater clarity, stronger shared governance and a renewed commitment to the values that define Carnegie Mellon at its best.

Sincerely,

Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President’s Chair