Censorship on America’s college campuses is one of the most prominent issues facing young voters today.
Unfortunately, it was an issue receiving not nearly as much attention as it demanded until recently.
And the Supreme Court could be putting an end to campus censorship entirely.
The Supreme Court issued First Amendment rulings in 2018 that required campus administrators to regulate controversial censorship practices on campus, especially those that squashed conservative ones.
Free speech even being allowed on college campuses has been publicly debated in recent years with the rise of protests across the country against conservative groups.
After President Trump’s election in 2016, bias against conservative voices on college campuses grew even nastier and more violent.
Often times, campuses handled the issues individually—but now the Supreme Court may be handling the matter entirely.
A court case won by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in 2018 was about forced unionism on the surface, but set a precedent that spread to campuses as well.
Janus v. American Federation of State, Country, and Municipal Employees was a landmark US labor law ruling that strictly limited the ability of union bosses to collect forced dues from non-union members.
But the free speech clauses involved in the case were key to upending campus censorship.
Many public and private universities require students to pay activity fees for building maintenance, student extracurricular activities, etc.
Some of these fees however go to leftist and socialist political groups on campus, which in turn, force their political biases on unsuspecting students.
In 2000, the Supreme Court had rejected a challenge to these fees, claiming that universities can charge students for campus activities as they see fit.
But the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, Country, and Municipal Employees overruled the decision of forcing a person to pay mandatory fees that goes towards a political group they aren’t a member of.
Fox News reported on the decision:
“We should expect college campuses to truly be marketplaces of ideas where students learn to value free speech and open inquiry and take that lesson with them as they become the next generation of judges, legislators, teachers and voters,” Casey Mattox, senior fellow for free speech and toleration at the libertarian Charles Koch Institute.
“Currently, many universities limit student group fundraising and prohibit dues – essentially requiring groups to be funded from these mandatory fees,” said Mattox, also the former senior counsel for academic freedom at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious liberty group. “If student groups could raise their own funds for speakers and have members pay dues, they could fund their own speakers even without mandatory dues.”
As a result of this decision, campuses may need to take a closer look at where the revenue generated from student fees is being spent.
Additionally, a decision made in another Supreme Court case, Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, ruled that universities would need to ensure there is no discrimination against student groups looking to express their political views – including discriminating against recognition, funding, and use of meeting space for those groups.
These Supreme Court rulings may be the start to ending college censorship, but the fight is certainly not over.
Many campuses actively regulate and show bias against college conservative groups.
Some campuses are even encouraging racism and segregation on their campuses by promoting radical leftist ideals. https://www.americanpatriotdaily.com/latest/how-leftists-are-encouraging-racism-and-segregation-on-college-campuses/
However, some states have started fighting back. https://deepstatejournal.com/2019/09/13/this-state-has-had-enough-and-is-fighting-back-against-college-censorship/
Do you believe the Supreme Court will help end the infringement of First Amendment rights on college campuses?
Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below.