Photo by Taylor Wooten, TheStatehouseFile.com. Rep. Jack Jordan, R-Bremen, authored House Bill 1190, which would put into Indiana law that public colleges and universities must protect student free speech. The bill aims to align campus policies with federal law and Supreme Court precedents.
By The Statehouse File
INDIANAPOLIS—Three Indiana state representatives have presented a bill that aims to deepen the role of free speech on public college campuses.
House Bill 1190, authored by Rep. Jack Jordan, R-Bremen, would not allow campuses to designate areas where free speech is not permitted or deny benefits and privileges to certain student organizations, but it would allow colleges to make decisions on reasonable time, place and manner requirements.
In a House Education Committee meeting, Jordan began his description of the bill by reading the First Amendment.
Jordan cited several Supreme Court cases that he said were included within the bill, including Healy v. James, in which the court ruled that First Amendment rights need to apply equally on college campuses as in the rest of the community.
Jordan said he and his coauthors, Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, and Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, met with representatives from Indiana public colleges and universities to create the bill. A representative testified on behalf of Indiana University, Ball State University, Indiana State University and Ivy Tech Community College, saying the institutions support freedom of speech and hope to keep working on the bill with the committee.
Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, said federal law should already protect free speech on college campuses.
Zack Pruitt, senior counsel for the Alliance for Defending Freedom Center for Legislative Advocacy, said he has worked with 20 states to pass similar legislation. The bill would just put the Supreme Court’s past decisions and the First Amendment in Indiana law specific to college campuses to help guide their policies, he said.
“We’ve seen universities that have attempted to craft policies just based on the First Amendment, which is very broad, and those policies have oftentimes veered away,” Jeter said.
Tyler Coward, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education or FIRE, said the group rates college’s free speech policies. The national nonpartisan group that focuses on individual rights of students and faculty at colleges and universities said 11 Indiana public institutions have policies that threaten the free speech rights of their students.
“Most notably, nothing in this bill prevents universities from addressing violence, threats, disruptions of class, other things,” Jeter said.
A college student and recent college graduate spoke of their experiences being censored while trying to promote conservative ideas.
A former student at IUPUI said the university limited the location of an anti-abortion event that her organization held to a small space between bike racks. Because the goal of the event was to have a discussion with other students as they passed by, the enclosed location defeated the purpose of the event, she said.
Kyle Reynolds, a current student at Indiana University and campus coordinator for Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization promoting conservative ideas, testified that he has faced discrimination for his views.
Reynolds said his group has been removed multiple times by campus administrators and police while hosting events in support of law enforcement.
The policy at Indiana University is unclear, he said, and the bill would make it easier for students to report improper treatment.
The bill would still protect college’s right to restrict the time, place and manner of free speech. Jordan gave an anecdote that it would not be appropriate for a student to go to the quad at 3 a.m. with a bugle and shout, “I hate Iceland.” Jordan said while free speech is allowed, the time can be restricted.
The House Education Committee will consider the bill today.
