Lawmakers in Maryland have introduced Bills in both houses of the legislature to extend First Amendment rights to most private colleges and universities in the state.
The legislation, introduced at the behest of students at Johns Hopkins University, would prevent private colleges that receive some public money from disciplining students based solely on the expression of speech normally protected by the First Amendment. The bills exempt institutions of higher education that are controlled by a religious organization.
Over the past few years, students at Johns Hopkins University have faced sanctions for speech that would probably have been constitutionally protected at a public university on multiple occasions. Most notably, in 2006 a student was suspended under the school’s harassment policy for posting an invitation to a Halloween party on Facebook that some found offensive. The incident led to the creation of a new code of civility barring vaguely defined “rude” and “disrespectful speech” from campus.
It should be obvious that the give and take of free discourse and debate on campus is no less critical at a private institution than a public one. And, while private institutions have no legal requirement to protect First Amendment rights, they do have an obligation to uphold their own policies, most of which guarantee a similar set of speech protections to students.
Unfortunately, while most private institutions do a good job of both understanding the need for a free exchange of ideas in their policy documents and upholding those policies, examples like the recent events at Johns Hopkins are becoming too common.
The House bill had its first hearing yesterday. Apparently, legislators and students in Maryland have had enough.
MD_2010_HB_000677_Current_7308.pdf