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As I said above, I am totally not an expert on any of this, so you should seek real answers from authoritative sources. However, I think I can safely clarify at

As I said above, I am totally not an expert on any of this, so you should seek real answers from authoritative sources. However, I think I can safely clarify at least this much... In this context, "Public University" means an institution substantially run by or funded by the U.S. government. Only some universities are public and many others are private. And different rules apply because the government is held to constitutional standards. Conversely, "Public Domain" relates to the copyright status of a creative work and is entirely unrelated to how something is funded. Legally, a "Code of Conduct" is basically just a contract. In the U.S. the "Freedom of Contract" and "Freedom of Association" between consenting adults are, thankfully, pretty damn expansive. If you want to create a non-government owned, run or funded project, club, cabal or coven which involves a contractual obligation requiring Taylor Swift tattoos and apple cider enemas, I'm pretty sure consenting adults can voluntarily agree to that if they chose to (although it should be noted, enforcement of such a contract will likely be limited to rejecting or expelling non-complying members).

wmidwestranger 3y ago
Don't know why you're being downvoted, the issue isn't the contractual obligation but the method of enforcement. If I sign a contract saying I'll take an apple cider enema and I don't, that doesn't automatically mean I've given permission to have one administered! That might mean I get kicked out of the contract but it doesn't mean that I can be forced to abide by the contract.
- mrandish 3y ago
  Yeah, my humorous (but still technically valid!) example was probably ill-advised in this forum. Separately, although I am not a lawyer, I have decades of business experience which often involved working closely with lawyers and my circle of friends happens to include several attorneys, prosecutors and judges, so I'd say I have an unusually broad understanding of legal matters for a non-lawyer (especially contract, IP and business law). I also just find legal stuff interesting to learn about and I'm one of those oddballs who looks forward to June because I find well-written SCOTUS rulings (and dissents!) fun to read. Yet, I'm still surprised at the lack of even high-school civics-level knowledge of basic legal principles I come across in otherwise intelligent, well-educated professionals including doctors, MBAs, engineers, etc. It's kind of sad because the latent engineer in me finds the system architecture of the U.S. legal framework to be fascinating. Yes, it's imperfect in many ways, yet it's still a brilliant, iterative, collection of attempts to solve a 'wicked' bundle of thorny problems through successive approximation. Despite its flaws it still ends up eventually getting things pretty close to as "right" as they probably can be with remarkable frequency.
hollerith 3y ago
>In this context, "Public University" means an institution substantially run by or funded by the U.S. government. No, a public university is run by one of the 50 states.
- mrandish 3y ago
  I did consider that while writing and I decided any reader not from here and unfamiliar with our federal/state divide would understand "U.S. Government" to mean all levels of government. Pedantically, I believe there are federal universities such as the army, navy and air force academies. There are also city colleges and all of these "government institutions" are funded or controlled by federal, state and/or city taxes which causes them to fall under additional constitutional restrictions.

wmidwestranger 3y ago

Don't know why you're being downvoted, the issue isn't the contractual obligation but the method of enforcement. If I sign a contract saying I'll take an apple cider enema and I don't, that doesn't automatically mean I've given permission to have one administered! That might mean I get kicked out of the contract but it doesn't mean that I can be forced to abide by the contract.

mrandish 3y ago
Yeah, my humorous (but still technically valid!) example was probably ill-advised in this forum. Separately, although I am not a lawyer, I have decades of business experience which often involved working closely with lawyers and my circle of friends happens to include several attorneys, prosecutors and judges, so I'd say I have an unusually broad understanding of legal matters for a non-lawyer (especially contract, IP and business law). I also just find legal stuff interesting to learn about and I'm one of those oddballs who looks forward to June because I find well-written SCOTUS rulings (and dissents!) fun to read. Yet, I'm still surprised at the lack of even high-school civics-level knowledge of basic legal principles I come across in otherwise intelligent, well-educated professionals including doctors, MBAs, engineers, etc. It's kind of sad because the latent engineer in me finds the system architecture of the U.S. legal framework to be fascinating. Yes, it's imperfect in many ways, yet it's still a brilliant, iterative, collection of attempts to solve a 'wicked' bundle of thorny problems through successive approximation. Despite its flaws it still ends up eventually getting things pretty close to as "right" as they probably can be with remarkable frequency.

hollerith 3y ago

>In this context, "Public University" means an institution substantially run by or funded by the U.S. government. No, a public university is run by one of the 50 states.

mrandish 3y ago
I did consider that while writing and I decided any reader not from here and unfamiliar with our federal/state divide would understand "U.S. Government" to mean all levels of government. Pedantically, I believe there are federal universities such as the army, navy and air force academies. There are also city colleges and all of these "government institutions" are funded or controlled by federal, state and/or city taxes which causes them to fall under additional constitutional restrictions.