Texas Senate Committee Examines Free Speech On College Campuses
Members of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee will exam this question Wednesday: Are students’ freedom of speech rights being squelched on state college campuses? The special legislative hearing at Texas State University in San Marcos follows the school's own high profile free speech conflict.
This past fall, campus leaders at Texas Southern University in Houston cancelled a speech by State Rep. Briscoe Cain, an outspoken member of the House’s Freedom Caucus, after dozens of protesters filled the event area to disrupt the speech.
Around that same time, Texas State University had its own student First Amendment rights conflict brewing. Rudy Martinez, a columnist for the University Star student newspaper, had written an opinion piece titled, “Your DNA Is An Abomination.” The college's student government criticized the piece as “anti-white.”
Under pressure from university officials, the newspaper fired Martinez and his editors. Texas State University President Denise Trauth condemned the article as “abhorrent.” In a statement, Trauth said while she appreciated the free exchange of ideas the student newspaper represented, she still expected student editors to use good judgment in the type of content they print.
Read more: http://tpr.org/post/texas-senate-committee-examines-free-speech-college-campuses
