Hearing of the House Judiciary Committee - First Amendment Protections on Public College and University Campuses

Hearing

According to the Department of Education, about 21 million students were expected to attend a college or university in 2014. And according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 70% of high school graduates in 2014 were enrolled in colleges or universities.

As more and more young people go to college, they will be exposed to, and shaped by, campus policies, including policies regulating speech. But what effect will that have? Research shows that young adults are less tolerant of free speech than older generations.

The results of overly restrictive campus speech policies are noted with increasing frequency in the press. On September 17, 2013, for example, a student at a community college in California was barred by administrators from distributing copies of the United States Constitution because the student didn't seek prior permission. He was also told that such activity must be performed in a narrowly-designated "free speech zone."

Administrators at a public university in Alabama, according to a complaint filed in federal court by Alliance Defending Freedom, denied a student group's request in 2013 and 2014 to set up a pro-life display in an area commonly used by other groups for expressive activities. Instead, according to the complaint, university administrators insisted they congregate in a narrowly-designated "free speech zone" because the group "advocates for a position that involves political and social controversy."

A student in Texas recently filed a suit against her public college because she and a classmate were displaying signs supporting the Second Amendment when they were approached by a campus official and three police officers and told that they couldn't hold the signs again in the public area without special permission. The official had apparently received complaints that their signs were offensive.

There are many, many more examples, and the huge volume of personal accounts coming from our nation's public colleges and universities is disturbing. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education alone lists on its website nearly 390 reported cases of speech violations. Given that more than half of American colleges and universities maintain what appear to be unconstitutional speech policies, no doubt many, many more cases of free speech infringement have gone unreported.

Policies that limit free speech limit the expression of ideas. And no one -- no one -- can be confident in their own ideas unless those ideas are constantly tested through exposure to the widest variety of opposing arguments. This is especially crucial in a democracy.

The Founders of our country understood this clearly.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson wrote of the importance of knowledge in a democracy. Washington wrote, "Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness … In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened." And as Thomas Jefferson reminded us, "Knowledge is power … If a nation expects to be ignorant -- and free -- in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

James Madison wrote of the inherent connection between free speech, learning, and liberty, writing -- quote -- "What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support … A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both ... And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

John Adams wrote specifically of the young, writing that "It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage … If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives."

This is an important topic about one of our fundamental freedoms as Americans. I thank Chairman Franks for holding this hearing, and I thank our witnesses for coming today. I look forward to your testimony.

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