Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, holds a yellow light speech code rating, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s campus free speech rating system.
According to FIRE, “Yellow light colleges and universities are those institutions with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.”
The criteria here is not necessarily that the policies have ill intent, but that they are ambiguous enough to have a negative potential. FIRE has identified at least two policies at Virginia Tech that are open-ended and leave room for unconstitutional interpretation.
First, “Policy 5000: University Facilities Usage and Event Approval” requires that all events have a university sponsor and that the sponsor must be an officially recognized organization. This means that if a group of like-minded students wish to get together and hold an event in support of a cause, they cannot do so if they haven’t first gone through the process of becoming officially recognized by the university.
The second policy is “Policy 5215: Sales, Solicitation and Advertising on Campus,” which requires the same sponsorship for informational activities, such as handing out literature. This policy is especially detrimental to newly forming groups because handing out informational materials and talking to fellow students on campus is the main way new groups gain enough interested members to be eligible for university recognition.
Related: Code Red: Florida State University banishes speech to graveyard area
“Policies like this affect the free speech of students in many different ways, especially for time-sensitive issues or for quick events,” Andrew Letzkus, chapter president for Virginia Tech’s Young Americans for Liberty, told Red Alert Politics. “Students are prohibited from protesting or demonstrating on campus without approval from the university with this rule, and this puts the power in the hands of the administration to dictate when and where students can hold events.”
A Virginia Tech spokesperson declined to comment.
“With each campus speech code I learn about, I am becoming increasingly skeptical as to the logic behind them,” said Alex Staudt, YAL’s director of free speech. “In what universe is the administration of a public taxpayer-funded university able to create rules that supersede the Constitution?”
Colleges are meant to be places that foster the free exchange of ideas and opinions as a way for students to pursue their interests, both in and out of academics. Campus free speech is under attack on college campuses across the nation. Bureaucratic requirements and ambiguous policies significantly stifle what should be a very simple process of freely expressing viewpoints and creating an open dialogue among students. The First Amendment has no prerequisites, so there shouldn’t be any required for students to use it on campus.
Read more instances of oppressive speech codes on college campuses by checking out other pieces in the 2018 Campus Speech Code Series here and here.
Richard Abel studied English at the University of Mary Washington. He is a Media Ambassador for Young Americans for Liberty.
