Montana’s flagship public university, the University of Montana, holds a yellow light speech code rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s campus free speech rating system.
A yellow rating occurs when an institution has “at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.”
The Missoula, Mont., college serves nearly 12,000 students on what Rolling Stone has called “the most scenic campus in America,” but according to the Associated Students of the University of Montana website, the university limits unrestricted speech to specific zones around campus, which is unconstitutional.
According to the policy on free speech, students may only hand out pamphlets or “share an idea” in certain areas of campus. Using some of these areas also necessitates advance consultation with the event planning office, and may be subject to further restrictions on “speaking time and volume,” and the vague, general “time, place, and manner restrictions specific to each area.” Both of these edicts are ironic, given the policy’s title: “Free Speech: Campus and the First Amendment.” The Associated Students of the University of Montana’s rules beg the question, to what extent was the First Amendment a part of the conversation when these rules were crafted?
Lucy France, the University of Montana’s general counsel, told Red Alert Politics that while there has not been any violations of the policy, administrators are currently working with students to rework the policy’s wording to address student concerns about free speech.
Last spring, an anti-LGBTQ speaker spoke at the campus in one of the “free speech zones,” where he was shouted down by a crowd using the tactic of the “heckler’s veto.” Following the incident, the student senate resolved to ban the use of the heckler’s veto on campus, as it limits the rights of others to speak.
“I am encouraged by the university seeking to rework the policies and look forward to seeing them rewritten in adherence to the First Amendment,” Young Americans for Liberty director of free speech Alexander Staudt told Red Alert Politics.
