GOP legislation would require UW campuses to discipline students who disrupt speech


via Wisconsin State Journal

Republican lawmakers would require University of Wisconsin System institutions to discipline and potentially expel students who disrupt speeches on campus, and mandate that UW stay neutral on political controversies.

Prompted, its sponsors say, by battles over free speech at UW-Madison and universities across the country, the bill makes Wisconsin the latest state in which lawmakers have sought to ensure controversial ideas are presented on college campuses by limiting the sometimes disruptive tactics of their opponents.

“We are making a pretty clear statement here that free expression should not be inhibited and will not be inhibited,” said Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, the bill’s lead author.

Other authors of the legislation being circulated for co-sponsorship include Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and the chairpersons of the Legislature’s higher education committees, Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, and Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville.

The liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now blasted the proposal as an attempt “to create mandatory safe spaces where conservatives, Republicans, racists and sexists can be exempt from criticism by their peers on campuses across Wisconsin.”

Complete story here > GOP legislation would require UW campuses to discipline students who disrupt speech


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