The Feminist Alliance had hoped to hold a
protest rally at the college in Newport
News, Va. The Gay Straight Student Union also had hoped
to say a word or two about why the Romney-Ryan ticket is wrong
for America. But they didn’t get the chance. CNU’s rules
require student groups to ask permission 10 business days in
advance of any demonstration. Ryan’s appearance was announced just
one business day in advance.
Restrictions such as CNU’s are often defended as neutral “time, place, and manner” rules designed to maintain order rather than impose silence. But often they are not neutral in effect—as a headline in the Hampton Roads Daily Press illustrates: “Paul Ryan Plays to Enthusiastic Crowd at CNU.” The crowd might not have seemed so enthusiastic if the protest had been allowed. (The newspaper wrote a separate story about the protest denial.)
But then, if the protest had been allowed at CNU it might not have been seen anyway. The public university permits demonstrations only on its Great Lawn, and Ryan’s event was being held at a concert hall elsewhere. CNU now says it will revise its policies. Yet many universities have restricted the First Amendment to such “free-speech zones.” In doing so they have blithely ignored a point captured well by a bon mot from Barney Frank: “As we read the Constitution,” he and some colleagues once wrote to Attorney General John Ashcroft, “the United States is a free-speech zone.”
Nice try, Barney. But tell that to Bob Wilson, the owner of Central Radio inNorfolk. The city is trying to seize Wilson’s land—and that of several others—in one of those eminent-domain deals that have provoked a richly justified backlash across the country. Once it condemns the land, the city will hand it over to a foundation run by Old Dominion University, which will then turn it over to private developers. The city’s housing authority is collecting a commission on the sales.
Read more: http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/01/how-local-governments-are-chipping-away
Restrictions such as CNU’s are often defended as neutral “time, place, and manner” rules designed to maintain order rather than impose silence. But often they are not neutral in effect—as a headline in the Hampton Roads Daily Press illustrates: “Paul Ryan Plays to Enthusiastic Crowd at CNU.” The crowd might not have seemed so enthusiastic if the protest had been allowed. (The newspaper wrote a separate story about the protest denial.)
But then, if the protest had been allowed at CNU it might not have been seen anyway. The public university permits demonstrations only on its Great Lawn, and Ryan’s event was being held at a concert hall elsewhere. CNU now says it will revise its policies. Yet many universities have restricted the First Amendment to such “free-speech zones.” In doing so they have blithely ignored a point captured well by a bon mot from Barney Frank: “As we read the Constitution,” he and some colleagues once wrote to Attorney General John Ashcroft, “the United States is a free-speech zone.”
Nice try, Barney. But tell that to Bob Wilson, the owner of Central Radio inNorfolk. The city is trying to seize Wilson’s land—and that of several others—in one of those eminent-domain deals that have provoked a richly justified backlash across the country. Once it condemns the land, the city will hand it over to a foundation run by Old Dominion University, which will then turn it over to private developers. The city’s housing authority is collecting a commission on the sales.
Read more: http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/01/how-local-governments-are-chipping-away
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