In a time when free-speech advocates
are sounding the alarm that a growing movement to silence opinions and speakers
on colleges and universities is hindering 1st Amendment rights, one state
recently took action to stop that trend.
Louisiana (LA) lawmakers passed SB364
– a bill which protects freedom of speech on public college campuses, and Gov.
John Bel Edwards signed it into law earlier this month. The law reads in part that education leaders
will:
“Develop and adopt policies on free
expression that contain: A statement that it is not the proper role of an institution
to shield individuals from speech protected by the First Amendment of the
Constitution of the United States of America and Article I, Section 7 of the
Constitution of Louisiana, and other applicable laws, including without
limitation ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply
offensive.”
The director of the Alliance Defending
Freedom (ADF) Center for Academic Freedom, Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer,
weighed in on the new law. “The free and
open exchange of ideas is essential to democracy, and perhaps no place is it
more important than on public university campuses,” Langhofer said in a
statement. “Public colleges and universities
are meant to be the marketplaces of ideas — where our future teachers, lawyers,
judges, community leaders and voters can exercise their constitutionally
protected freedoms,” he continued. “"This
new law ensures that public universities remain these marketplaces where
intellectual diversity flourishes and all students are able to engage in the
exchange of ideas rather than censorship on campus” Langhofer said.
Leaders associated with the ADF Center
for Academic Freedom say the goal of the organization is to preserve freedom of
speech and association for students and faculty so that the sharing of
different ideas is not hindered by government censorship.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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