c/campus-free-speech

A student in my debate club said my arguments were too focused on legal theory and ignored student feelings

I started including personal stories from campus protests in my speeches, and it changed the whole room's energy. Has anyone else had to bridge that gap between principle and personal impact?

Walked past the library at UConn and saw a big sign for a talk that got moved to a tiny room in the basement.

The group hosting it told me the admin made them switch rooms because the speaker's views were 'too disruptive' for the main hall, which feels like a quiet way to limit who can hear them.

My school had two different ways to handle protests and one was way better

Last semester at my state university, they let a really controversial speaker come and just had extra security. It was loud but fine. This semester, a different group wanted to host an event and the admin made them pay a $3000 'security fee' and move it to a tiny room off campus. That basically killed it. The first way respected free speech, the second way just used money and rules to shut it down quietly. It's the same school, just different people in charge. Why do so many colleges pick the second option when the first one clearly works?

A flyer for a debate got taken down at my school and I put it back up

Last month at UC Berkeley, I saw a campus worker pull down a flyer for a talk on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The worker said it was 'too political' for the main quad. I waited until they left, then I taped my own copy right back on the same pole. The next day, I saw two more flyers had been added next to it. It felt like a small win. Has anyone else had to push back on flyers being removed for vague reasons?

The campus bake sale that turned into a free speech debate

Our student group had to choose between two slogans for our fundraiser: 'Bake the World a Better Place' or 'Sweet Treats for Free Speech'. We picked the second one, figuring it was more on point. Someone from the student government told us we were 'politicizing baked goods' and needed to change it. We sold out of brownies in under an hour, mostly to people who wanted to talk about the sign. Has anyone else had a totally normal event get flagged for a weird reason?

PSA: Our student paper spent 4 months fighting the admin just to run a cartoon about parking fees.

The dean's office claimed it was 'disruptive' and we had to get a lawyer from the FIRE group involved before they backed down, so has anyone else's campus pulled this over something that wasn't even political?

Noticed the 'free speech zone' at my campus in Madison is just a tiny fenced area by the dumpsters

My poli sci prof said something wild about protest signs last week

We were talking about a campus rally and he joked that the best way to get a sign taken down is to put a bad pun on it, because the rules only cover 'hate speech' not 'cringe speech'. It actually made me wonder where the line is for what gets removed. Has anyone seen a protest sign get pulled for just being really, really dumb?

I finally read the actual campus speech policy at my school, and the 'hate speech' section is way too broad.

It basically says any speech that causes 'emotional distress' can be restricted, which could cover almost any heated debate. Has your campus defined this any better, or is it just a tool to shut down arguments people don't like?

My professor mentioned a 1977 Supreme Court case about a Nazi march, and it got me thinking

He said the ruling protected the group's right to assemble in Skokie, Illinois, even though their message was vile. Makes you wonder where that line gets drawn on a modern campus, doesn't it?

Just realized our campus protest policy is way too restrictive

Honestly, the administration at my school, University of Michigan, just changed the rules so you need to apply for a permit 72 hours before any kind of protest. They said it's for safety, but it basically stops any real response to current events. Tbh, it feels like they're more worried about looking good than letting students speak up. Has anyone else's school done something similar, and how did you push back?

A professor at my school got a warning for showing a political cartoon in class

It happened in a poli-sci lecture at Ohio State about two weeks ago. The cartoon was from a newspaper and showed both parties in a bad light, but someone complained it was 'targeted harassment.' The department head sent an email saying the material 'created a hostile environment' and told the prof to stick to the textbook. I always thought those free speech warnings were overblown, but seeing a teacher get in trouble for something that basic changed my mind. Has anyone else seen a teacher get pushback for using regular news stuff in class?

I just saw a campus group get denied a table for the 4th time this month

The reason was always 'safety concerns' about their flyers, which just quoted old Supreme Court rulings. How is that not a clear content-based restriction? Has your school found new ways to block groups they don't like?

I tracked 22 separate attempts to shut down a speaker at my school this fall

I started keeping a list after the first few protests, just out of curiosity. By the end of the semester, I had counted 22 distinct events where student groups or administrators tried to cancel, disinvite, or disrupt a guest lecture. What got me was that only 3 of those speakers were what you'd call truly controversial figures. The rest were just professors, authors, or policy people with standard center-right views. The milestone that hit me was seeing the number pass 20. It showed me this isn't about stopping 'hate speech' anymore, it's a systemic effort to block any idea that challenges the campus norm. They use noise disruptions, pressure on the hosting department, and false claims about safety to get events called off. It's a playbook. Has anyone else seen this shift from targeting extreme voices to just shutting down mainstream disagreement?

Warning: I spent $75 on a campus protest permit that got denied for 'content review'

The university said our flyer language was too 'inflammatory' even though it just quoted a Supreme Court ruling, so now I'm out the fee and we can't hold the event, which feels like a clear speech tax.

Looked up the actual policy on guest speakers at my school

I was curious about bringing a speaker to campus, so I checked the official student handbook online. The approval process requires a 45 day notice and a $500 security deposit, which seems like a lot. It also says the school can deny any speaker if they think it might cause 'disruption', which feels pretty vague. Has anyone else had to deal with this kind of thing?

Honestly, I put up a simple flyer for a debate club on my campus bulletin board and it was gone in under an hour.

Ngl, I figured it was fine. It just said 'Debate Club - All viewpoints welcome. First meeting this Thursday.' I put it up right by the student union at 9 AM. By 10, it was ripped down. I asked the campus activities office, and they said someone complained it was 'potentially disruptive' because we didn't list specific topics. I learned that even announcing a space for open discussion can get flagged now. It feels like the bar for what's seen as a problem is way too low. Has anyone else had a totally plain event notice taken down that fast? What did you do about it?

My campus free speech group just hit 50 members, and half are from the engineering school

I started a small discussion club at my university in Ohio last semester, just to talk about tricky free speech cases on campus. I figured it would mostly be poli-sci or philosophy majors, you know? But when we hit 50 members this week, I saw the roster and 25 of them are from the engineering college. It really surprised me, but one of them told me they feel like their views on tech ethics get shut down in class debates sometimes. Has anyone else seen a big shift in who's showing up to these kinds of talks lately?

My push for consequences on hate speech turned me into the campus free speech bad guy

I brought up at a student meeting that maybe hate speech should face real penalties, and wow, did that set people off. A bunch of folks acted like I was trying to shut down all discussion on campus. But I've sat in classes where students made racist jokes and nobody said a thing. I watched a friend get so much hate online for her political post that she deleted all her social media. We keep talking about free speech like it's sacred, but we ignore how it drives people away. If we don't admit that some speech does harm, we're just pretending everything is fine. It's not about stopping ideas, it's about making sure everyone feels safe to speak up. But sure, call me the censor for caring about that.

Ngl, defending a rally I opposed showed me what free speech really means

Honestly, when a group on campus held a rally for a cause I disagree with, I felt torn. Tbh, part of me wanted to ignore it, but I knew shutting it down wasn't fair. So I spoke up in a meeting when people said it should be stopped. We ended up with a quiet chat about why even tough talks matter. It felt like a win for letting everyone have a say, and I'm happy I stepped in.