UT Attorney Responds to Political Signs Taken Down on Campus

UT Students for Debra Medina are waging a war against the University of Texas because they claim the university violated free speech rights.  Their argument focuses on a 4' x 8' sign in support of Republican candidate for governor, Debra Medina, that was taken down by school officials.

Tuesday, co-president for the group, Tyler Rosen, talked to ACS about how he feels and action the group plans to take.  Wednesday, university attorney Jeff Graves responded to a request for response on the matter.  He issued the following statement, saying placing signs on campus is subject to university rules.

Rosen says the signs were taken down Friday.  Monday, the Students for Debra Medina group, along with Longhorns for Kay Bailey Hutchison, placed several more signs that were eventually taken down. 

"The right to place signs is a subset of the right to free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution.  Like all rights, the right to free speech is not absolute and must be balanced by the legitimate interests of the public body in question.  For example, a city park and a city library are both public buildings, but one may not organize a rally and give a speech in a library as one may do in a park.  The right to free speech may be permissibly limited by what are called time, place and manner restrictions," said Graves.

Graves also said, although the university is a public institution, it's not a traditional public forum like a city street or park.  "Because we have an educational mission, the University has always had time, place and manner restrictions on speech and assembly which place some limits on free speech rights in order that the University’s educational and business processes are not disrupted, while still providing ample means for expression.  Reasonable time, place and manner restrictions like ours have long been held by the courts to be a permissible limitation on free speech rights.  Our rules have been litigated a number of times, and our time, place and manner restrictions have generally been upheld by the federal courts," Graves added.

Graves points out the university's rules on speech and assembly, which can be found here.

Note particularly Section 13-300, General Rules, and 13-500, regarding Signs and Banners.

Graves continues:

Among other things, our rules allow signs that are hand held, or that are mounted on tables staffed by campus groups.  As you may be aware, there are a large number of groups on the West Mall on any given day with campaign and other types of signs.  However, signs may not be staked out as the one in question was, and that is why it was removed.  It is the University’s position that our rules are consistent with both the First Amendment and Texas state law regarding elections.  There is nothing in the state election code that requires the University to suspend or modify its rules regarding signs or other speech while an early voting polling place is on campus, nor is there anything that requires that we allow every type of electioneering, without any limitation, outside of a polling place.

The University itself, as a public entity, is prohibited from participating in partisan politics.  Having signs staked out on our grounds, posted on our buildings or otherwise posted around campus in ways other than those allowed by our rules runs the risk of them being misinterpreted as belonging to the University and that the University is endorsing a particular candidate, which we may not do.  This is one of the reasons that our rules prohibit posting signs in this manner.

In sum, the University encourages its students to participate in public discourse and political dialogue and believes that robust debate of current issues fits into the University’s educational mission.  The University provides faculty, staff and students with many avenues of expression, and the activity on the West Mall is a testament to that.  The University’s rules are reasonable and allow electioneering and campaigning for candidates, and we are confident that our rules are in compliance with the First Amendment and Texas law regarding elections and campaigning.

There's no word what specific steps Rosen plans on taking.  He told ACS every day is critical during campaigning, and his group has lost precious time in their effort to back Medina.  Early voting lasts until February 26.  The Republican and Democratic primaries will be held Tuesday, March 2.