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Public Universities in Georgia Embrace New Free Speech Policy

Public Universities in Georgia Embrace New Free Speech Policy

“The state Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s 26 public universities, voted Tuesday to change their institutions’ free speech policies”

This is great news. No more free speech zones on campus.

Yahoo News reports:

University System Ends Era of Free-Speech Zones on Georgia’s College Campuses

When Georgia college students return to their campuses in the fall, they could be in for more spirited intellectual debate than they’re used to.

The state Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s 26 public universities, voted Tuesday to change their institutions’ free speech policies to bring them in line with newly-signed state legislation.

The new policy largely does away with so-called campus free speech zones, areas of the campus open to protests and rallies. The zones are a relatively new concept in Georgia that has come under fire in recent years, especially with religious and conservative groups, who say the idea curtails First Amendment rights and opens the state up to lawsuits.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a former Georgia Gwinnett College student who was prevented from handing out religious literature on campus.

Under the change, set to go into effect July 1, members of the campus community — students, faculty, staff and invited guests — can have access to outdoor parts of campus for protests. Schools will have the ability to set certain restrictions such as disallowing late-night demonstrations outside a residence hall, but these restrictions cannot be based on the content of the speech.

People who are not part of the campus community can be restricted to specific high-traffic parts of the campus and made to comply with other restrictions, including the requirement to make reservations.

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Comments

Yeah, our “free speech zone” is north of the Mexican/US border and south of the Canadian/US border. If you’re not comfortable with that, go fuck yourself good and hard.