OU new policy bans indoor protests
Ohio University ATHENS — calls new rules a “freedom of expression” policy and says they are meant to promote the free exchange of ideas while ensuring safety on campus.
But students looking to exchange ideas in the form of a protest or rally in a university building appear to be out of luck.
A portion of the policy states that university employees and students, as well as groups or individuals not affiliated with the university, may reserve and use university facilities for any legal purpose, including to engage in constitutionally protected speech.
The policy goes on to say “demonstrators, rallies, public speech-making, sit-ins, marches, protests, and similar assemblies are not permitted in the interior spaces of university buildings.”
The policy was approved for interim use on Aug. 17, and the university announced it late last week. Campus constituencies, including faculty and student senates and the chief of police, were asked to review the policy and comment by Oct. 6.
In a news release announcing the policy, the university said “the long-standing prohibition of demonstrations and sit-ins inside buildings is continued,” but the policy posting states that there is no previous version of the policy. An OU spokesman did not answer questions on the policy Tuesday, including whether any sort of similar rule banning protests in buildings was previously in place.
“Through the adoption of a permanent policy, the University intends to memorialize our institution’s commitment to the free exchange of ideas and First Amendment principles while ensuring the safe operation of our campus,” the university’s news release said.
The Athens university also announced an interim policy regarding the use of outdoor spaces on campus, which also will be reviewed by campus constituencies.
There’s some good and some bad in the freedom of expression policy, said Azhar Majeed, vice president of policy reform at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. It’s good because it appears to open up outdoor areas and explicitly allows for spontaneous, unscheduled use of outdoor campus space, he said. But the complete ban “seems a little bit broader than whatever measure would be necessary to the university,” Majeed said.
The new policy comes after campus police arrested 70 students on criminal-trespass charges in February after they refused to leave a sit-in demonstration inside the Baker University Center, where they were protesting President Donald J. Trump’s immigration policies. The city of Athens later dropped the misdemeanor charges against 55 students after the first student protestor to go to trial was found not guilty. Fifteen other students had already pleaded no contest to reduced charges of disorderly conduct.
Landen Lama, OU Student Senate president, said the senate will review the freedom-of-expression policy in upcoming meetings. He was concerned that the policy went into effect in August but wasn’t communicated to the student senate and others on campus until last week. Lama said he understands why the university established the policy, given last year’s protest arrests and violent rallies near the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville last month, but he hopes parts of it can change.“I’m proud of the university for being so proactive in getting this policy initiated. Am I in favor of a lot of what it says? No,” he said. “I am hopeful that this policy will be changed with the feedback from all constituencies affected by it.”