- New law bans free speech on Texas campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
- Students face penalties for activities like wearing political hats or holding vigils.
- FIRE files federal lawsuit, citing violations of the First Amendment.
- Christian student group warns law will disrupt worship during finals.
- Law passed in response to anti-Israel protests, scaling back 2019 protections.
A controversial new law in Texas is drawing heavy criticism for restricting when students can exercise their right to free speech on public university campuses.
Senate Bill 2972, which took effect on September 1, bans “any speech or expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution” between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.. The law also restricts expressive activities during the final two weeks of a semester, a period often filled with campus events, guest lectures, and student-led gatherings.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Texas System, arguing that the law’s vague and sweeping language threatens core constitutional rights.
According to FIRE’s complaint, the law effectively means that “Universities now have the power to discipline students at nighttime for wearing a hat with a political message, playing music, writing an op-ed, attending candlelight vigils — even just chatting with friends.”
FIRE also highlighted a troubling exemption for commercial speech. As the organization points out, students “are free to advertise t-shirts featuring the First Amendment after hours … but could face discipline for wearing them.”
J.T. Morris, a supervising attorney at FIRE, strongly condemned the measure, stating, “The First Amendment doesn’t set when the sun goes down. University students have expressive freedom whether it’s midnight or midday, and Texas can’t just legislate those constitutional protections out of existence.”
One of the groups represented in the lawsuit, the Fellowship of Christian University Students at UT Dallas, says the law will disrupt their religious and community activities.
The group’s committee chairman, Juke Matthews, explained, “Our organization gives students on campus a place to worship with one another and hear from Christian leaders. For many of them, this is their church away from home. This law would yank away part of their support system right at the most stressful time of the term.”
State Republicans pushed S.B. 2972 earlier this year in direct response to anti-Israel protests on college campuses. The bill also prohibits students from building encampments or replacing the American flag with another nation’s flag actions that have become symbols of pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the October 7 Hamas attack.
The measure significantly rolls back protections guaranteed by a 2019 law, which had established outdoor spaces at public universities as open forums for free speech.
Defending the law, one of its sponsoring state senators insisted during its April introduction that it “strengthens the expressive rights of students and employees in Texas public institutions of higher education while also setting boundaries intended to prevent unnecessary disruption and to ensure campus safety.”
