University Of California Delays Proposal That Restricts Political Speech On School Websites

Regents for the University of California on Wednesday weighed a plan to restrict academic departments, labs, institutes and other bodies from where on their websites they can post political language.

Supporters say the rule is needed after the ongoing Israel-Hamas war led to heated language, activism, and actions on campus. They say posting political speech isn’t essential for the running of academic departments and other units.

At the committee meeting on Wednesday, UC President Michael Drake acknowledged the protests, demonstrations, and rallies — mostly peaceful, but “a handful have been violent and disruptive in ways that violate our values and principles of community, property has been damaged.” He noted incidents of “hateful assaults, including incidents of antisemitism.”

“It’s a very difficult time for campus leaders, including our chancellors,” he said.

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The proposal said the main pages of the websites of these academic groups should be used to conduct official business of that group, not individuals or collective opinions:

The policy would allow school departments to post statements on other parts of their sites, and to distribute through social media. But they'd have to be accompanied by a disclaimer that those statements don't represent the university, and that units adopt rules that protect their members from feeling compelled to speak.

“I think it’s fine to have opinions but I think it’s also very important that they’re placed as opinions, not on the beginning of a website where you’re trying to welcome students,” said UC Regents Chair Richard Lieb.

What's next

The regents ultimately delayed a vote on the policy until their next meeting in May.

Other members raised questions about how the proposal would be implemented and enforced, while others said UC’s Academic Senate had not been given a chance to scrutinize the plan and give its opinion.

Others said a systemwide plan isn’t needed.

“I think each campus should be free to decide on what policies they’re going to be doing, what guidelines they’re going to set around this issue,” said student regent and UCLA graduate student Merhawi Tesfa.

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