Recent protests on campus have spotlighted UVM’s guidelines on free speech, underscoring tensions between individual expression and the institution’s policies.
The UVM Office of Compliance Services defines free expression as rights guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States, including rights to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, petition and association, according to UVM’s Freedom of Expression Policy website.
However, UVM’s free speech guidelines have recently come into question following a federal lawsuit filed against UVM by UVM Students for Justice in Palestine Sept. 9 after the University placed them on interim suspension on May 1.…