North Carolina Passes Bill to Protect Free Speech on Campus
“includes several important provisions that will better protect campus free speech”
More states need to step up to the plate on this issue. Kudos to North Carolina.
The College Fix reports:
North Carolina passes campus free speech bill
In the wake of anti-free-speech demonstrations at colleges across the country, the North Carolina legislature recently passed a law that strengthens free speech protections on college campuses in that state.
House Bill 527 “includes several important provisions that will better protect campus free speech,” according to the Foundation for Equal Rights in Education.
Among the bill’s provisions is a mandate that colleges allow students to distribute literature in “outdoor areas.” As FIRE’s Tyler Coward writes, “[R]oughly 1 in 10 colleges maintain problematic policies that restrict expression to certain areas on campus, oftentimes called ‘free speech zones.’ These misleadingly labeled ‘free speech zones’ are routinely struck down by courts because they unconstitutionally limit student expression to tiny, out of the way areas of campus.” HB527, Coward notes, will hopefully mitigate “the need for litigation over this issue in North Carolina.”
The law also “requires institutions to create a range of sanctions for any person under its jurisdiction who ‘substantially disrupts the functioning of the constituent institution or substantially interferes with the protected free expression rights of others.’” The “substantial” qualifier, Coward points out, is intended to ensure that protected speech such as “fleeting boos” remains protected, while “conduct that materially disrupts or otherwise silences others” can (and will) be sanctioned by universities.
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Comments
“Sanction” is a useless word, a symptom of a bombastic blast of hot air.
A “sanction” means a penalty for commission of some action.
It also means official approval of some action.
“Say what you mean, and mean what you say.” Politicians have long paid little attention to the second, but increasingly, they’re failing on the first, too.
The default position of the Left is always tyranny. Freedom of speech is the greatest barrier against tyranny. Thus, the Left hates the 1st Amendment and always will.
Why would you need freedom of thought? The Left already has pre-screened ideas ready for you to agree with or else.
My how things have changed in a few decades!
NC Speaker Ban Law-
Enacted in 1963, the Speaker Ban was a North Carolina state law that restricted the appearance of Communists and other radical speakers at state-supported campuses, including the University of North Carolina. The Speaker Ban sparked a major controversy over Communism, academic freedom, and the First Amendment.
“Speaker Ban Law – North Carolina History Project”
The Left owns the institutions for now.