|
4 |
+In April of 2014, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the first state to statutorily prohibit public colleges and universities from restricting student speech to unreasonable speech zones when it passed HB 258 with unanimous support.44 In December, The Wall Street Journal heralded the bill, writing, “Perhaps the biggest breakthrough for First Amendment advocates this year was a Virginia law that bars “free-speech zones” on public campuses.”45 This year, FIRE capitalized on the momentum created in Virginia by supporting similar legislation, the Campus Free Expression Act (CAFE Act) to abolish “free speech zones” from public campuses in Missouri. The Bill, SB 93, passed unanimously in the State Senate and with an impressive majority in the State House of Representatives.46 It currently awaits the Governor’s signature. The continued maintenance of free speech zones is detrimental to all campus community members. Institutions risk losing lawsuits; students risk punishment for protected speech and learn the wrong lesson about their expressive rights, concluding that speaking their minds is not worth the punishment. Establishing that outdoor areas on public campuses are traditional public forums will ensure that our public universities continue to be a traditional space for debate aptly and memorably recognized by the Supreme Court as “peculiarly the ‘marketplace of ideas.’”47 When Congress reauthorizes the Higher Education Act, it should include a provision that would guarantee that public campuses are once again places where expressive activity may flourish, subject only to reasonable, content- and viewpointneutral time, place, and manner restrictions. FIRE has attached draft legislation— the Campus Free Expression Act—as Appendix B. |