By CHRIS JETER
State Representative
In Indiana, we are hitting the brakes on free speech zones.
Free speech zones debuted on college campuses across the country, limiting expressive language and activities to designated areas. Rather than promoting critical thinking and difference of thought, some college administrators are more concerned about confining freedom to avoid conflict. By setting limits on free speech, these higher learning institutions stifle students’ ability to learn and develop.
This blatant infringement of the First Amendment, however craftily labeled, will not be tolerated in Indiana. With a new law I co-authored, free speech will be protected by banning free speech zones at our public state colleges and universities, and by preventing colleges from discriminating against and denying benefits to student groups on the basis of religion, political affiliation or ideology.
Quite opposite than its name, free speech zones confine expression to certain locations, often in small and remote spots. In some cases, schools give groups permission to use the spaces and then put up other roadblocks, like requiring registration weeks in advance and setting strict time limits. Indiana’s new law will help guide campus policies and ensure that free speech is protected for all students. Several national stories of speech suppression on college campuses have brought this conversation to the forefront.
In California, a student attempted to distribute Spanish-language copies of the Constitution and recruit members for a new chapter of Young Americans for Liberty along the main campus thoroughfare at a large community college. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the student was approached by an administrator who told him that he could not distribute literature outside the free speech zone, a 616 square-foot area of the college’s 426-acre campus. He was also told that he must fill out a permit application to use the free speech zone – requiring him to get a permission slip to exercise his First Amendment rights. He was informed that he would be asked to leave his own campus if he refused to comply. The case, and many like it, ended up in court, where it was ultimately settled.
Recently, a large group of Yale law school students hijacked a campus panel discussion about free speech. The conversation was intended to demonstrate how two speakers from different ideological perspectives could agree on the need to support the First Amendment. However, more than 100 law students shouted obscenities and threatened visiting speakers, shutting down civil discourse.
Confining free speech is not free speech. It’s an attack on our God-given rights and it’s unconstitutional.
I hope more people join me in speaking out against free speech zones, and encouraging young adults to engage in conversations that challenge their way of thinking while respecting others’ rights to express themselves – no matter how unpopular or uncomfortable their ideas may be.
Freedom of speech is what makes our society better, ensures our government serves the people, and it’s worth fighting for on our college campuses and beyond.
State Rep. Chris Jeter (R-Fishers) represents House District 88, which includes portions of Marion, Hamilton and Hancock counties.