BUZZ
Local ACLU: Decision has an ‘obvious chilling effect on speech’
The so-called “No Kings” protest scheduled for today at Towson University was moved after a school official informed students involved that speakers “would be run through federal government databases and vetted for security reasons.”
According to The Baltimore Banner, students claimed the Towson official had indicated there were “concerns about potential political violence” at the rally.
Protest organizers eventually made the decision to move the rally due to fear the Trump administration would “target” the speakers.
Towson Vice President of Media Relations Jamie Abell said the university does background checks for “all events on campus regardless of their content” including “all external speakers, entertainers, singers, etc.” so as to “determine level of security needed.”
Senior Vice President for Communications Sean Walsh added the policy has “existed in an evolving iteration for years as guided by best practices,” and noted the over expected 2,500 attendees at the rally was “above the threshold to initiate such security measures.”
Members of Towson’s Young Democratic Socialists of America claimed school officials never brought up background checks for any of the group’s past events. The YDSA’s Davis Payton said “[T]he administration wanted to know if there was ‘anyone who might want to hurt people that are coming to speak’ at the rally.”
On its Instagram page, the YDSA said Towson was treating the “No Kings” gathering as “an entertainment event rather than protected political speech.”
Late last month, Payton and the Towson YDSA got what they wanted when Homeland Security Investigations withdrew from the fall campus Career and Internship Fair. That didn’t stop them from holding a protest rally against the organization, however.
Maryland ACLU attorney David Rocah claimed the university’s decision on vetting speakers had an ”obvious chilling effect on speech.” He said a university should “know better,” and added there are plenty of U.S. Supreme Court cases that “protect the right to speak anonymously.”
Ultimately, Payton and Towson “No Kings” co-organizer Noah Glorioso said they didn’t “want to be putting people in harm’s way by passing their names to the university, who would then pass them to the FBI” — because they know President Trump would “come after” them.
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