Univeristy of Texas at Austin 6 months ago:
Video: "Why can members of the public come to campus at any time and engage in demonstrations and speeches?"
Why can members of the public come to campus at any time and engage in demonstrations and speeches? So state law in Texas actually allows uh members of the public just like our university community to come onto campus and use our common outdoor areas for speech activity. I think that surprises a lot of students they show up here and they think who is this random stranger setting up a table talking about a thing I find upsetting but it's protected by state law and members of the public just like university community can use our common outdoor areas. Now it isn't a free-for-all. So when you say they can why can they come at any time there's there's some Nuance there. It's subject to our University rules that are permitted under the law so we can put in place time place and manner restrictions that are really all about uh making sure those are content neutral.
So we can't have rules that say well you can't come to campus and talk about this or that subject or express this or that view. But we can have rules about where you can set up tables for example or um you know that during the hours of 8 to 5 we don't have amplified sound in areas outside of designated amplified sound areas. People can't congregate in front of openings to buildings you know we have a safety concern we have an interest in what our mission is in making sure our students and our faculty and staff can get into buildings can attend classes and do the work of the University. So all those kinds of restrictions those time and place and manner restrictions are permissible and that's what keeps it from being a free-for-all but it is open and it's open to everyone.
Univeristy of Texas at Austin yesterday:
The Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors issued a statement condemning UT Austin President Jay Hartzell and other UT leaders.
“There was no threat of violence, no plan to disrupt classes, no intimidation of the campus community,” the statement reads.