The Colorado Springs Independent has an article in its latest issue on the free speech zones at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. (UCCS) Last fall, a woman’s advocacy student group called AWARE wanted to reserve a space on campus for a bake sale satirizing the wage gap between male and female workers. The university told the group that since their demonstration was of a political nature, it would have to be held in the campus’ free speech zone. The College Republicans had previously held a Global Warming Beach Party to express opposition to popular theories regarding global warming in the same area outside the free speech zone where AWARE wanted to demonstrate.
To justify the free speech zone, UCCS Professor James Colvin points out that while universities may regulate the time, place, and manner of speech, those restrictions must be viewpoint neutral. But what Colvin leaves out is that in addition to viewpoint neutrality, the regulations must also be reasonable. While banning political speech entirely from a university campus or relegating it to one or two small areas may be viewpoint neutral, depending on how it’s enforced, it is not at all reasonable or constitutional.
This is the sort of garbage you get when universities take it upon themselves to judge student speech. I'm sure if you asked the College Republicans if they thought Global Warming was a political question they would respond "Hell, yeah it's all about politics." That is probably why they had the beach party in the first place. By those standards a wage discrimination bake sale is less political.
Of course, the larger point should be why get the university administration involved at all? All it does is invite charges of capriciousness. Really, the only legitimate role I can see the university playing here is scheduling coordinator.
All the messy "free speech stuff" is just what comes of living in a democratic society. Get used to it already.
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