MSU to soften restrictions on ‘free speech zones’ for outside groups

Outside groups that want to set foot on the Missouri State University campus to stage protests, hand out pamphlets or even damn students to hell used to be confined to designated areas.

That restriction might soon be lifted.

Prompted by a change in state law, the executive committee of the Board of Governors will consider a policy revision Wednesday that would give outside groups — those not affiliated with the university — the same freedom currently afforded to MSU students.

“We limited where outside groups could be,” said MSU President Clif Smart. “The new law says we can’t do that.”

The “Campus Free Expression Act” signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Jay Nixon requires public colleges and universities to consider “all outdoor areas of campuses” as forums for free speech.

Outside groups were largely relegated to the city sidewalks that surround and cross the campus as well as a trio of “public forum” or free-speech zones including: the Bear Paw, on the north mall of campus; Trottier Plaza, at the northwest entrance to the Robert W. Plaster Stadium; and Strong Hall Amphitheater, outside the east entrance to Strong Hall.

“There is no free-speech zone,” said Smart, noting the previously designated areas. “It’s (anywhere) outside now.”

If the proposed revisions to the university’s existing “Expressive Activity Policy” are ultimately approved by the Board of Governors, there will only be one set of guidelines governing free speech on campus.

The policy states the university “is committed to providing an environment where issues can be openly discussed and explored. The freedom to exchange views is essential to the mission of the university.”

According to the policy, the guidelines were put in place to foster “open discussion” without interfering with the rights of others or disrupting “the academic mission or daily university functions.”

That means there are rules.

“We are not going to allow our academic zones to be disturbed,” Smart said.

Individuals and groups seeking to assemble and express views on campus have long faced certain restrictions, and those would remain under the proposed revisions. They include:

•No engaging in unlawful activity that endangers the safety of the campus or destroys university property

•Forums, rallies, demonstrations and related activities are “not to occur within academic or other university buildings including residence halls and apartments or Greenwood Laboratory School.” (It’s worth noting a sit-in related to the upheaval in Ferguson a year ago took place in the Plaster Student Union, and university officials did not break it up).

•Cannot disrupt vehicle or pedestrian traffic

•Noise levels should not interfere with classes, meetings, campus events or other activities on campus.

•No event can exceed eight hours in a 24-hour period

The policy does not limit free speech based on the views being expressed. Last week, a student sent a Tweet to Smart: “Please get this preaching kook off campus (in front of Strong Hall). Real sure he doesn’t even go here.”

Smart replied: “Wish I could — Missouri law prohibits that. Sorry.”

There is a wide range of individuals and groups that come on campus, Smart said. For example, the Gideons pass out Bibles every year, and other groups pass out pamphlets about various causes.

He pointed there has also been a man who visits campus to preach and often tells passing students that they look like sluts and whores.

“The hateful preacher who comes on campus and does not articulate Christianity as I interpret it,” Smart said. “... He screams at people that they are going to hell.”

Smart said while the university supports free speech and wants to encourage dialogue, opening the campus up even more to outside groups carries a risk.

“We worry about the fringe groups,” he said.

The revised policy under consideration states the three previously designated free-speech zones remain the “most appropriate” for forums, rallies, demonstrations and related activities. The university will still allow individuals or groups to reserve those areas.

Priority will be given to reservations made by students and others affiliated with the university, followed by outside individual or groups with a reservation. If no reservations exist, use of the spaces will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The last significant revision to the university’s free-speech guidelines was in the early 2000s. Under threat of a federal lawsuit, the university loosened its guidelines to allow students to engage in debates, rallies and demonstrations almost anywhere on campus.

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