The University of New Hampshire holds a “yellow light” rating, according to the campus free speech rating system of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
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.”
One ambiguous policy at the University of New Hampshire is their policy on “Outdoor Assemblies and Events, Solicitation and Dissemination of Viewpoints in Public Areas on Campus.”
Specifically, Section 23.4 states that a “license/permit shall be required by all students, University units and groups for outdoor assemblies, solicitation, and distribution of literature, and upon approval, shall be issued by the Chief of Police or designee, University of New Hampshire Police Department (862-1427), subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.”
The policy’s ambiguity places more power in the hands of the administration, allowing them to regulate speech on campus. Such policies require the permission of an administrator, who could very easily deny a rally or protest based on personal beliefs.
Because the policy states that licenses and permits will be subject to “reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions,” students are hindered in their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights. The university administration, under such policies, can restrict a student’s constitutional right to free speech on campus by limiting what can be said, when it can be said, and where it can be said.
The university seems to almost contradict itself. A campus policy in Section 23.2 states that “individual students who wish to solicit for contributions, distribute literature (including requesting a small fee or voluntary contribution for the literature to defray expenses); and engage in sequential, incidental, brief and transitory verbal interactions with passersby on the sidewalks and in the parking lots on campus may do so at any time.”
While students may not assemble, solicit, or distribute literature without a permit or approval per Section 23.4, they may solicit, distribute literature, and interact with passersby per Section 23.2.
“Why is it that in the Live Free or Die State, UNH desires to regulate the right to free speech down to the transitory and incidental nature?” Young Americans for Liberty Director of Free Speech Alexander Staudt told Red Alert Politics. “It seems to me that the First Amendment is very clear — there should be no law, infringing on the right to free speech and peaceful assembly, regardless of its incidental nature.”
The University of New Hampshire mission statement says that one of the university’s primary purposes is “creative expression,” but its policies say otherwise.
The University of New Hampshire did not return Red Alert Politics’ request for comment in time for publication.
Jon Plante is a Master of Applied Economics Student at American University. He is also a YAL Media Ambassador, YAL State Chair for Massachusetts, and the Students for Liberty Deputy Director for the New England District.
