Code Yellow: University of Kentucky restricts 'free' speech to limited areas, times
by Rachel Altman
| September 14, 2018 12:09 PM
As of May 2018, the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. has a yellow speech rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit that rates college campuses on their free speech protections and commitment to civil liberties.
Under FIRE’s rating system, a “yellow light speech code ranking†indicates that the university has “at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application.â€
FIRE’s initial critique of the University of Kentucky’s protest and demonstration policies concerned their small “open discussion area†between Limestone St. and the Alumni Gymnasium, which student groups were allowed to occupy for up to two hours. This area essentially constituted a free speech zone. In several federal lawsuits, free speech zones have been found unconstitutional; although the campus administration often implements them with good intentions, they constitute a restriction of students’ First Amendment rights on the rest of the campus.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/red-alert-politics/code-yellow-university-of-kentucky-restricts-free-speech-to-limited-areas-times
