BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- The lawsuit, filed by FIRE on behalf of various student groups, targets Senate Bill 2972, which requires universities to set policies restricting sound-amplifying devices and limiting free speech after 10 p.m.
- Concerns have arisen about how these restrictions impact student performances and activities, such as those of the Texas Society of Unconventional Drummers, a student music group.
- Senate sponsor Brandon Creighton defended the bill as a means to strengthen student rights while also preventing chaos and disruptions.
A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday about whether a Texas law unconstitutionally limits students’ free speech rights after dark and during the last two weeks of each semester.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression recently filed the case on behalf of several student groups including the Fellowship of Christian University Students at UT Dallas, Young American for Liberty, two music groups at UT Austin, and The Retrograde, an independent student newspaper at UT Dallas.
“The First Amendment doesn’t set when the sun goes down,” FIRE senior supervising attorney JT Morris stated in a news release. “University students have expressive freedom whether it’s midnight or midday, and Texas can’t just legislate those constitutional protections out of existence.”
Filed earlier this month, the lawsuit centers around Texas Senate Bill 2972, amendments to the state’s 2019 free speech law, which “impose a host of sweeping censorship measures” on public colleges and universities, according to the FIRE news release.
The bill passed the legislature over the summer, and went into effect Sept. 1.
The amended law allows universities to enact their own policies with “reasonable restrictions on time, place, and manner of expression” and their governing boards to choose which areas are “public forums.”
Under the changes, higher education institutions also must restrict “expressive activities on campus” from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. and during the last two weeks of each semester.
These policies also must restrict sound-amplifying devices, specifically including drums and other percussive instruments.
Additionally, the law now limits free speech by members of the public who are not students or employees of the institution.
Earlier this week, The Daily Texan reported why one group, the Texas Society of Unconventional Drummers, is concerned about the law:
Echoing boomwhackers, Home Depot buckets, staplers, bicycle spokes and hardcover books — these are all items the Texas Society of Unconventional Drummers uses to deliver its biannual musical performances in the Texas Union.
At the end of every semester, the group promotes these performances with shows on Speedway, president Lincoln Schuler said. The performances in the Union serve as their primary source of funding alongside donations. This semester, Schuler said he is concerned the group will be unable to perform outside during the week of and before finals as a result of University compliance with a new state law.
FIRE declined to comment when contacted by The College Fix asking about courts allowing time, manner, and place restrictions regarding the right to free speech, but pointed to a section of the lawsuit that addresses the question.
“The Overnight Expression Ban makes no exceptions or distinctions based on expression in campus forums, including outdoor common areas, other designated public forums, and limited public forums. At the same time, it covers dorm rooms, libraries, athletic facilities, media studios, and a host of other spaces on campus where students, staff, and faculty engage in expressive activities every day,” the lawsuit states.
“To that end, the Overnight Expression Ban prohibits a staggering amount of protected speech at UT Austin, UT Dallas, and the rest of Texas’s public universities and colleges,” it argues.
Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, sponsored the bill. He did not respond to a request for comment via email through his spokesperson.
As the Dallas Observer reported in June, Creighton “argued during a Senate hearing that the bill was intended to strengthen existing state laws surrounding the expressive rights of students and employees at Texas public institutions. Creighton said that the legislation would help prevent chaos and disruption by allowing university governing boards to determine what parts of campus may be used as public forums.”
The University of Texas System’s media relations and general counsel also did not respond to an email requesting comment on the lawsuit.
MORE: UT Dallas faces censorship claims after shutting down student newspaper
