The University of Alabama, a public university in Tuscaloosa, Ala., has a yellow speech rating according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s campus free speech rating system.
Institutions which hold a ‘yellow light speech code rating’ are defined as ones that have “at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.”
The University of Alabama has three policies that egregiously violate students’ First Amendment rights. Those policies deal with university space, event advertisement, and event planning.
Students can only use university space if an event is “in accordance with the priorities of the designated area.” Alabama also restricts where students can pass out advertisements for an approved event and the administration requires all advertisements to be in “good taste.” The administration makes final rulings on what qualifies as good taste.
“Things like ground use restrictions really damage the ability of students to share ideas freely and openly,” Zach Warren, president of the University of Alabama’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter, told Red Alert Politics. “On our campus any hand outs must be approved so when we hand out pocket constitutions those technically have to be submitted weeks in advance for approval.”
These policies allow for administrative overreach and enable the administration to ignore students’ rights to free expression on campus.
Another example of a yellow light policy is Alabama’s event planning policy, which requires students to submit an “Online Event Planning Form” seven to ten business days before an event. An event that requires such steps include 5Ks, parades, and demonstrations or marches.
In the university’s opinion, these policies are designed to avoid scheduling conflicts and to allocate resources effectively.
Taylor Bryant, University of Alabama’s director of communications, told Red Alert Politics in an email that these policies supposedly help “ensure the safety of our students and campus community and offers all campus-affiliated parties the same opportunities without disrupting the University’s ability to provide its essential services of teaching and learning.”
“Our grounds use permit policy allows campus affiliates to request the space that meets their needs and helps University staff coordinate appropriate campus resources (security, grounds keeping, etc.) and avoid scheduling conflicts,” Bryant stated.
These policies have been abused by UA in the past as seen in October 2016 when UA imposed a $7,000 security fee on the UA College Republicans chapter for bringing Milo Yiannopoulos to campus. After initially expecting a fee of $1,000, UA continually increased the amount of the required security fee as the event drew near. Only after experiencing significant pushback from students did the university rescind the fee and allow the event to go on as planned.
“While policies like those at University Alabama are not unique, what makes them especially egregious are the layers upon layers of red tape that the university puts on students to exercise their First Amendment rights,” said Alexander Staudt, Director of Free Speech at Young Americans for Liberty. “Whether it is restricting space-use based on the priorities of that area or requiring a ‘good taste’ stamp of approval from administration for advertisements, these policies are unconstitutional. Public universities, such as UA, are obligated to maximize the breadth and availability of speech, ideas, and knowledge.”
Tyler Cochran studies Political Science and Religion at Missouri State University. He is a Media Ambassador and Missouri State Chair for Young Americans for Liberty.
