As demonstrations of free speech draw national attention on University campuses, select professors and student groups disagree on whether protesting should be allowed on campus grounds.
The discussion of free speech gained traction after protests were held on campus grounds regarding the Israel-Hamas war and the new Trump Administration. Another event that sparked protests on campus was a tabling event where members of College Republicans United at ASU asked students to report their peers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During a panel discussion last month hosted by the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, law professors from New York University Law, Yale Law School and University of Southern California Gould School of Law, discussed the impact that free speech demonstrations have on universities.
The event was titled "Free Speech on Campuses in the Wake of the Israel/Hamas War."
"We have to talk about where and how the First Amendment applies," said Robert Post, a professor of law at Yale.
Hayden Nguyen, a sophomore studying business and management and coalitions coordinator of Young Democratic Socialist of America at ASU, said YDSA uses protests as a tool to "uplift the voices of marginalized communities."
"We come from the student community, so we're going to prioritize on-campus protests," said Nguyen, who is also a co-chair of Students for Justice in Palestine at ASU.
Arizona Students Association, an advocacy nonprofit for students and a supporter of student protests on campus, works to ensure its campus civic engagements remain peaceful.
Alberto Plantillas, a graduate student studying public policy and the regional director for ASA, said any student engagement with rallies must stay non-violent, focusing on avoiding acts of aggression and intimidation tactics.
"The advocacy message has to be a peaceful one," Plantillas said.
The free speech panel drew protests outside the event. A crowd of protesters rallied in Civic Space Park, across from the Downtown Phoenix campus Post Office, then marched approximately two blocks to the law school building.
Once they arrived, loud bangs on buckets, chants through a megaphone and a brass instrument could be heard from inside the panel discussion.
The speakers noted the protest occurring outside, using it to help reinforce their point.
"It was actually a vivid illustration of some of the dilemmas that we had to face," said Jeremy Waldron, a professor of law at NYU. "We had the academic discussion of it in this room."
Rebecca Brown, a professor of law at USC Gould, said there are many reasons why a college campus should not be considered a public space on the matter of free speech. Brown said the mission of a university is academic freedom and the pursuit of knowledge, not to be a "public space for the sole purpose of speech."
"Academic institutions have a different mission from governments, and therefore, free speech within academic institutions should be judged based on a different metric," Brown said.
Nguyen disagreed with Brown's comment, noting he doesn't believe academic pursuits and a right to gather are separate.
"How can we separate the learning environment – the diversity and the collaboration of a college campus – from our right to gather?" Nguyen said. "Protesting, rallying, being political on campus is the same acts of diversity, the same acts of collaboration, the same acts of inclusion and hearing people's viewpoints that made college campuses good places to learn."
The panelists said another reason protests should not be allowed on campus is because participants should not have the right to interfere with a university's mission of education.
Plantillas said ASA already has tools to prevent interference with student life, including avoiding pathways and practicing peaceful protesting.
"We work really hard to ensure that any march or demonstration or protest that we're involved with is non-violent because that's the whole point of advocacy," Plantillas said.
Student activists argue that the educational mission of a university and civic engagement are also one and the same.
“Having environments that facilitate questioning things, looking deeper into different structures, critiquing them, I think that is integral to a safe academic space," said Sophie Levitt, a senior studying justice studies, a co-chair of SJP and the chair of Bafrayung Itst. "If you're not aware of all the different issues happening globally … there's no knowledge there."
However, the panelists seemed to argue for restrictions on how protests should be conducted on college campuses.
"This issue is the same as all the others — it relies on geography," Waldron said. "When we talk about encampments on open spaces of public universities, it depends a little bit on what open spaces you're talking about."
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Ramirez, Tiya Talwar, Alexis Heichman and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at elbradfo@asu.edu and mhaynie3@asu.edu and follow @emmalbradford__ and @madison_haynie on X.
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Madison is a sophomore studying mass communication and media studies. This is her first semester with The State Press. She has also worked as a music journalist for 2 years and a photographer for 5 years.
Emma is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication and political science, with a minor in business. This is her second semester with The State Press.
