Texas State University served as a microcosm in the debate over free speech on campuses Monday night when the Student Government Senate passed a resolution banning Turning Point USA from campus. However, despite the vote, university policy would keep the organization on campus unless the administration places it under disciplinary sanction.
The free speech battle is reflected in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on the issue and in a bill working its way through the Texas Legislature. Senate Bill 18, authored by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), has received bipartisan support, with senators including Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) and Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) named as coauthors. The bill, which passed in the Senate and was sent to the House Committee on Higher Education on March 28, would require public institutions to adopt clear policies regarding students’ rights and responsibilities when it comes to free speech and “expressive activities.” The bill states that higher education institutions “may not take action against a student organization or deny the organization any benefit generally available to other student organizations at the institution on the basis of a political, religious, philosophical, ideological, or academic viewpoint expressed by the organization or of any expressive activities of the organization.” The bill also states that an institution may only consider “content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral criteria” such as the expected audience size and any anticipated need for campus security. Institutions may not consider “any anticipated controversy related to the event.”
Texas State is not the only university where free speech battles are playing out. There is a petition online urging Baylor University to bar conservative blogger Matt Walsh from speaking on campus there. Walsh’s appearance is at the invitation of Baylor Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative group. His speech is titled, “The War on Reality: Why the Left Has Set Out to Redefine Life, Gender, and Marriage.”
