Student Safety or Student Silencing?
Senate Bill 2972, known as “the Campus Protection Act,” passed by the Texas Legislature in June 2025, restricts expressive activity on public university campuses. The bill was introduced after pro-Palestinian protests took place at universities across the state, including encampments that led to dozens of arrests.
SB 2972 requires “institution[s] of higher education” to adopt a policy that prohibits, in part, the following:
- The use of devices to amplify sound during class hours in a manner that intimidates others or interferes with campus operations.
- Expressive activities during the last two weeks of a semester in the campus’s common outdoor areas, when conducted in a way that disrupts the university’s functioning.
- Camping or erecting tents on campus.
- Wearing masks or other means of concealing one’s identity to intimidate others or obstruct enforcement of university rules.
- Lowering the institution’s United States or Texas flag with the intent to raise the flag of another nation or a flag representing an organization or group.
- Expressive activities on campus between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m
SB 2972 also directs each university’s governing board to designate specific areas on campus to be used by students and employees to engage in expressive activities.
Lawmakers who had supported a 2019 bill, passed after several universities canceled appearances by conservative speakers, and which included provisions establishing all common outdoor spaces on public campuses as traditional public forums, defended SB 2972. Critics of the bill, however, argue the new law is selective restriction based on political content.
Supporting Links
SB 2972 (Bill)
2019 Bill (Bill)
25 News KXXV | 06/9/2025 (YouTube)
“New state bill could add restrictions to protests on public universities”
Additional Reading Materials
Jeremy W. Peters | The New York Times (Article)
“Texas Passed a Law Protecting Campus Speech. It’s on the Verge of Rolling It Back”
Campus Reform Respondent | Campus Reform | 06/10/2025 (Article)
“Texas legislature passes bill to crackdown on campus protests”
Discussion Topics
- In the book, we emphasized that restrictions on speech based on its content are the most disfavored, because they risk viewpoint discrimination. Do you see any provisions that might enable viewpoint discrimination in this law?
- What do you think are the most problematic features of this law: its purpose, its scope, or its history, and why? Consider in particular the reversal of policy from the 2019 law—passed to limit the ability of schools to exclude controversial speakers—to the current law—passed to increase the ability of schools to restrict protests. Recall the social science perspectives on how people react to speech they favor or disfavor: Is this an example of selective support of free speech?
- Defend the proposition that the law’s requirement of a reasonable outlet for student speech constitutes a legitimate effort to balance free speech with safety, and that this law should be upheld.
- Defend, with specific reasons, the proposition that this law is unconstitutional under the free speech principles you have learned. Is it also bad policy? If not, should the free speech principles be rethought?