‘Disruption’ or ‘free speech’?  College students face new rules on campus protest

As students make their way back to college and campus demonstrations about the Israel-Hamas war resume, the central conflict isn’t likely to be student to student, but between the right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom from hostile environments. Whether it’s possible for both to exist on college campuses this fall remains to be seen.

Many colleges have strengthened their policies on how and when students can protest. Some say their “fear-based” approach has gone too far and will discourage students from exercising their First Amendment rights for fear of punishment. Others say they haven’t gone far enough, and recommend further action be taken both to prevent protest and to discipline students who participate.

The new policies — which have been issued at colleges including the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University and Virginia Commonwealth University— often require students to register and receive prior approval for holding outdoor events or demonstrations; restrict how and when students can display posters and other materials on campus; limit where protests can be held and whether amplified sound is allowed to be used. Many are trying to prevent encampments, like those that proliferated last spring, entirely. 

Both the University of California and the California State University systems issued new policies this week banning encampments and “unauthorized structures,” or anything that blocks walkways or roadways on campuses.

Most of the new policy announcements begin by describing the institution’s dedication to academic freedom and freedom of speech, but Risa Lieberwitz, general counsel at the American Association of University Professors, said the new restrictions fundamentally undermine those freedoms.

Lieberwitz, who is also a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University, worries that these restrictions will discourage students — especially those with minority viewpoints — from exercising their First Amendment rights for fear of surveillance by college leaders. Requiring students to register their protests ahead of time also prevents them from spontaneously assembling in the case of a sudden news event, Lieberwitz said. She said these restrictions will also make it easier for universities to punish students who participate in protests. 

“There comes a point where there’s so many restrictions that they’re no longer reasonable,” said Lindsie Rank, director of campus rights advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE. “They’re really there to discourage protest at all.”  

Colleges should take this opportunity to help students understand how to exercise their First Amendment rights, Rank said, “so that these debates can continue but without the violence and vandalism and some of the stuff that we saw in the spring.” 

Last spring’s protests often escalated into occupation of campus buildings and dramatic clashes with university officials and police. The Associated Press reported that more than 3,000 people were arrested; many students were suspended, some were expelled and others temporarily lost access to their housing. Still others faced consequences related to their education, such as withholding of a diploma.

All the while, many Jewish and Muslim students have been harassed and have reported other negative experiences on campus since the protests began.

College leaders are under scrutiny for their handling of these protests. They’re receiving pressure from students, faculty, boards of trustees, donors and members of Congress, all of whom have competing interests. Three Ivy League presidents have resigned under pressure, with the third, Columbia’s Nemat Shafik, having stepped down last week.

Michael B. Poliakoff, the president and chief executive officer of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, is among those who think college leaders haven’t done enough.

“We need courage in these difficult times, not convenience, not passivity,” Poliakoff said.

His group issued a guide to preventing encampments and occupations that says “the difference between peaceful protest and encampment is that the latter seeks to commandeer the public square of campus to the exclusion of all else in the community.”

The guide recommends requiring students to read the college’s code of conduct and sign a form “committing themselves to obey and honor” it, or risk “clear and severe” penalties, including suspension or expulsion without the possibility of having tuition refunded.

Poliakoff said colleges often come down hard on issues such as plagiarism and academic ethics, but are too lenient on others. 

“Disruption is an even greater offense against the spirit of the university, and it seems to be all too common. We need some much clearer focus on the kind of decorum, on the rules that protect everybody’s freedom,” he said. 

In a sign of hope for enrollment, the number of college applicants rose by 7 percent last year, continuing an upward trend of the past few years, according to a new report from the Common App. While applicant numbers don’t necessarily translate into enrollment numbers, and the Common App is used by only about one-third of four-year colleges in the country, the increases show a continued aspiration to earn a bachelor’s degree. (Some of the increase could be attributed to about 50 more colleges using the Common App, making a total of 1,074 colleges.)

Notably, applicants from families living in lower-income zip codes rose by 12 percent over the previous year, compared with 4 percent for their higher-income peers – the largest increase in the eight years the Common App has measured this. And public colleges saw a bigger increase of applicants –16 percent – than private colleges at 5 percent.

Applicants from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups increased by 11 percent from last year, continuing a trend from the past three years. American Indian and Native Alaskan applicants grew the most – 15 percent – followed by Latino and Black applicants at 12 percent and 10 percent respectively. Black applicants are now 14 percent of the total pool, mirroring the country’s population.

Student applicants who would be the first in their families to go to college also increased by 5 percent. Student applicants from rural areas rose by 9 percent, compared with 6 percent from large cities.

Meanwhile, the National Student Clearinghouse reports that the number of federally recognized colleges and universities — meaning institutions whose students are eligible for federal financial aid — fell 2 percent in the last academic year. This follows a long enrollment decline, spiraling institutional debt, falling revenue from tuition and the end of pandemic relief funding that was keeping many of those vulnerable schools alive. 

My colleague Jon Marcus first pointed out that colleges were closing this year at an average rate of one per week, in a story that examined what happens to students in these cases. And our Meredith Kolodner took an in-depth look at the case of Wells College, which closed abruptly, leaving students, faculty members and staffers in the dark until the last moment.

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This post appeared on The Hechinger Report on August 23, 2024.