Ashe Smith
Asst. Managing Editor
Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, neither shall the University of Tennessee.
Last week, Soulwinners Ministries International visited campus to spread their message. No matter what their message or whether any student, faculty or staff member agreed or disagreed with it, the group had a right to be there, according to Ron Laffitte, associate dean of students.
“We as UT believe in the freedom of speech. As a public, land-grant institution we have to follow the law,” Laffitte said. And the law is the First Amendment, which guarantees no restriction in speech. To allow for free speech and while not disrupting the university, the administration set up areas called “Free Speech Zones.”
The zones were created during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights era when students began to protest perceived social injustices on universities’ property, Laffitte said.
“It was all universities, not just UT,” Laffitte said. He said the zones were needed to allow for free speech but also to make sure the speech does not interfere with the business of the university and academia.
The zones followed the Supreme Court case Hague v. CIO, which ruled that the Constitution requires public streets, parks and similar public places to be open for “assembly, communicating thought between citizens, and discussing public questions,” Justice Owen J. Roberts wrote in the court’s opinion in 1939.
“The first (zone) was the back of the University Center Plaza, and the second one is the area that is now the Pedestrian Walkway,” Laffitte said. Before February 1996, the Pedestrian Mall was Andy Holt Avenue which was public property. As public property, free speech was exercised without any restriction. Once the walkway was completed, the university designated the mall’s lower half — near the southeast entrance of Hodges Library — as the second Free Speech Zone, Laffitte said.
He said outside groups typically call ahead and tell the Dean of Students Office, the UT Police Department or both that they are going to assemble on campus.
“We ask them to contact us in advance. Most of the time they do call, but they call to ask where they can assemble on campus … We do not have to give them permission to speak, they already have that,” Laffitte said.
If university officials think such a group could cause a disturbance to peace, the group is usually monitored by UTPD or school officials. Laffitte said the Dean of Students office checked up on demonstrators just last week.
