A crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators march Wednesday at The University of Texas at Austin. State police officers march behind them.“Some colleges are banning free speech on college campuses. Well, no more because I'm about to sign a law that protects free speech on college campuses in Texas,” Abbott said in 2019.
In Texas and across the country, pro-Palestinian demonstrations in response to the Israel-Hamas war have put state and university leaders’ prior free speech commitments to the test. UT-Austin’s heavy-handed response to the protests — and the state GOP leaders’ support of the arrests — are a stark contrast to their vigorous celebration and defense of protected speech in previous years.
The law established all common outdoor areas at public universities as traditional public forums, allowing anyone — not just students — to exercise free speech there. It also prevented universities from considering “any anticipated controversy related to the event” when approving guest speakers on campus.
Free speech also loses First Amendment protections when it amounts to discriminatory harassment or true threats that incite imminent violence or destruction of public property. In his email to the community last week, Hartzell said he had “credible indications” that the organizers of Wednesday’s protest were “trying to follow the pattern we see elsewhere, using the apparatus of free speech and expression to severely disrupt a campus for a long period.”
Though it’s standard for a few officers to be present to manage a sizable peaceful protest like the Wednesday walkout, free speech experts condemned the phalanx of law enforcement that descended on the campus when there was no indication of violence. But Savannah Kumar, an attorney with ACLU of Texas, questioned whether a rule prohibiting face masks is enough to trump free speech protections. Immunocompromised students may have reasons to wear face masks. And rules should not dissuade or discourage people from exercising free speech, she said.requiring schools to revise their free speech policies to punish what he described as “the sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts on university campuses.
Texas Politics Texas Policy Texas Government Higher Education Protests University Of Texas-Austin Greg Abbott
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