With students throughout the country facing restrictions on when and where they can speak and with whom they can associate, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb (R) is the latest to act in their favor by signing into law HB 1190, a comprehensive bill to ensure that students can speak openly on their campuses.
"It addresses the three problems by prohibiting what's called speech zones," explains Zack Pruitt of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). "These are kind of far out of the way areas of campus where students are either prohibited to speak outside of those zones or are required to get advance permission to speak in those zones."
Indiana's new measure also prohibits issuance of speech codes, or a list of things students may and may not say on campus.
"And lastly, the bill in Indiana protects the right of student association, which is the right of students to gather with other students that share their same views to amplify their message, and they're allowed to select members and leaders based on the criteria and beliefs of the organization," the ADF attorney continues.
That means that a Christian group now has the right to, for example, not allow a homosexual to lead it.
Pruitt says 21 states have passed at least one of the provisions of the bill, and 10 have passed all three, guaranteeing students constitutional protections of free speech.
