¹ū¶³“«Ć½app¹Ł·½

Table of Contents

Victory for Freedom of Speech: University of Nevada at Reno Abolishes ā€˜Free Speech Zonesā€™

¹ū¶³“«Ć½app¹Ł·½

RENO, Nev., June 28, 2006ā€”FIREat the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR) are freer today, thanks to a that designates the entire campusā€”save the interior of university buildingsā€”as an ā€œopen public forum area.ā€

ā€œWe are thrilled that UNR has taken such decisive action to protect its studentsā€™ free speech rights,ā€ stated Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (¹ū¶³“«Ć½app¹Ł·½). ā€œThis is truly a victory for liberty, and we commend the students and administrators who made this happen.ā€

As FIREreported in April, the universityā€™s previous policy designated only four small or remote areas on UNRā€™s campus as ā€œā€˜public forumā€™ areas,ā€ and explicitly deemed the rest of the campus a non-public forum. Student activists, working with FIREand the ACLU of Nevada, protested this unconstitutional policy and proposed a new policy that would open the public university campus to free speech. The students worked closely with UNR administrators, who approved the policy earlier this month.

UNR rising junior James Girnus, who in April publicly challenged the university to abolish its free speech zones, is thrilled with the new policy. ā€œIā€™m extremely proud of being a UNR student right now,ā€ said Girnus.  ā€œA group of students was able to transform UNRā€™s unconstitutional zoned speech into a new free speech policy that encourages students to express themselves.ā€

FIREā€™s work against so-called free speech zones began over four years ago at West Virginia University. After a long campaign of public pressure from ¹ū¶³“«Ć½app¹Ł·½, WVU finally abandoned its ā€œfree speech zones,ā€ but the trend of confining free speech to small areas persists on many other campuses. Thanks to the hard work of UNR students and administrators, UNR is no longer one of these campuses.

ā€œSo-called free speech zones are an odd and highly inappropriate part of too many campusesā€™ policies these days. We hope that other universities will realize that free speech should not be quarantined on campus,ā€ concluded ¹ū¶³“«Ć½app¹Ł·½ā€™s Lukianoff. ā€œWe also hope that the hard work and great success of the UNR student activists will inspire students everywhere to stand up for the rights they deserve.ā€

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nationā€™s colleges and universities.

CONTACT:
Greg Lukianoff, President, ¹ū¶³“«Ć½app¹Ł·½: 215-717-3473; greg_lukianoff@thefire.org

Recent Articles

FIREā€™s award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed.

Share