A Guide for Testifying at Public Hearings and Reaching State Legislators Click Here...


Cheeseman Advocates for Free Speech on College Campuses

Posted on February 24, 2023

Facebooktwittermail

HARTFORD- To protect students right to free speech, State Rep. Holly Cheeseman (R-37) testified in the legislature’s Higher Education and Employment Committee on a proposal to require public institutions of higher education to establish a policy regarding freedom of expression on campus.

The legislation, HB 6567, An Act Requiring Public Institutions of Higher Education to Establish a Policy Regarding Freedom of Expression on Campus would require the Board of Trustees of the University of Connecticut and the Board of Regents for Higher Education develop and adopt a policy on freedom of expression at the public institutions of higher education governing boards.

Rep. Cheeseman said, “I wholeheartedly support the effort to ensure that the First Amendment freedoms of all on college campuses are not abridged. Freedom of speech is a fundamental American freedom, a human right, and a core value of our society. Universities should foster robust and vigorous debate and the free exchange of differing views on all topics and should not punish those who exercise their first amendment rights.”

“The First Amendment to the Constitution protects speech no matter how offensive its content. Restrictions on speech by public colleges and universities amount to government censorship, in violation of the Constitution. Such restrictions deprive students of their right to invite speech they wish to hear, debate speech with which they disagree, and protest speech they find bigoted or offensive. An open society depends on liberal education, and the whole enterprise of liberal education is founded on the principle of free speech.”

According to Cheeseman, the proposed legislation mirrors very well the so–called Chicago Principles, drawn up by a committee at led Chicago Principles, drawn up by a committee at the University of Chicago in July 2014. These principles enumerate the University of Chicago in July 2014. These principles enumerate a university’s role in fostering, a university’s role in fostering, promoting, and protecting free speech on college campuses promoting, and protecting free speech on college campuses.

X