Bill Advances in Kentucky to Ban Campus ‘Free Speech Zones’ at Publicly Funded Colleges

Bill Advances in Kentucky to Ban Campus ‘Free Speech Zones’ at Publicly Funded Colleges

This is great news for students in Kentucky. Can we get a similar national campaign started?

Campus Reform reports:

Ky. bill would make every zone a ‘free speech zone’

A bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives seeks to ban “free speech zones” on publicly funded colleges and universities in the state.

The Campus Free Speech Protection Act tasks universities to remove their “free speech zones” and instead, grant “students and faculty the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, learn, and discuss any issue.”

In addition to banning “free speech zones,” the act would also ensure that students may bring whomever they want to speak on campus, regardless of their political bent. It would also ban teachers from discriminatory grading based on political or religious beliefs.

The bill, which has 13 Republican sponsors and one Democrat sponsor, is set to be introduced to the Kentucky House floor after passing the state’s House Education Committee in late February. The Campus Free Speech Protection Act also touches on student activity fee funding, stating that a student organization cannot be denied funding based on politics.

Some Democratic lawmakers were skeptical of the act, however, and one asked the chamber to work “racial equality” issues into the bill.

“I would hope that as you work on this bill, that you would include racial equity issues in here,” Democrat state Rep. Reginald Meeks said, according to WFPL. Meeks chose not to vote on the bill.

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