'Free speech zones' on campus: Oklahoma House split on whether they promote or stifle free speech

'Free speech zones' on campus: Oklahoma House split on whether they promote or stifle free speech, sends bill to governor


OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives exercised their First Amendment rights for 75 minutes Monday afternoon before passing a measure that opposing protagonists argued may or may not encourage free speech on college campuses.

Senate Bill 361, by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, would prohibit the state’s public colleges and universities from interfering with “noncommercial expressive activity on campus … , as long as the person’s conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the public institutions of higher education.”

It would outlaw campus “free speech zones,” which in the estimation of the bill’s proponents limit rather than encourage open discourse.

House sponsor Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, said the measure is needed to keep students or administrations from infringing on the rights of those with views outside prevailing sentiment. The bill and ones similar to it in other states have grown out of conservatives’ belief that they face discrimination on college campuses.

Read more: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/free-speech-zones-on-campus-oklahoma-house-split-on-whether/article_c7aaabb3-906c-5141-a008-da33b0232b8d.html