Post by Logan on Feb 18, 2016 0:51:37 GMT -6
A Utah lawmaker wants colleges to face prosecution if they deny students' First Amendment rights.
While free-speech protection is older than Utah's universities, some student groups in recent years have had to fight to express their views on the public properties.
"It's crazy, it's frustrating," bill sponsor Kim Coleman said, "to think that in 2015, that a public university would limit political speech." She points to last year's legal victory for a libertarian-leaning student group that sued after Dixie State University squelched its protests and satirical portraits of President George W. Bush, Che Guevara and President Barack Obama. The St. George university has since redrafted its policies with help from the Utah attorney general's office.
Colleges should retain only limited checks on student expression, Coleman said. While some schools have designated "free-speech zones," that's a concept Coleman says should apply to campuses in their entirety, with what she calls reasonable restrictions on when, where and how loud or obtrusive demonstrations can be.
Read more: www.sltrib.com/news/3548958-155/bills-aim-to-free-up-free
While free-speech protection is older than Utah's universities, some student groups in recent years have had to fight to express their views on the public properties.
"It's crazy, it's frustrating," bill sponsor Kim Coleman said, "to think that in 2015, that a public university would limit political speech." She points to last year's legal victory for a libertarian-leaning student group that sued after Dixie State University squelched its protests and satirical portraits of President George W. Bush, Che Guevara and President Barack Obama. The St. George university has since redrafted its policies with help from the Utah attorney general's office.
Colleges should retain only limited checks on student expression, Coleman said. While some schools have designated "free-speech zones," that's a concept Coleman says should apply to campuses in their entirety, with what she calls reasonable restrictions on when, where and how loud or obtrusive demonstrations can be.
Read more: www.sltrib.com/news/3548958-155/bills-aim-to-free-up-free