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Montclair State University in New Jersey clarified its new protest policy 11 days after it was announced, NorthJersey.com reported.
The university first published an updated version of its expressive activity policy on Oct. 18, which opened up outdoor spaces for employees and students to demonstrate but restricted people unaffiliated with the institution to protesting in one designated location on each campus. Community members and free speech advocates criticized the policy for being “excessive” and violating the First Amendment.
“After hearing feedback from our campus community, we realized that the language of our update was unclear,” Joe Brennan, Vice President of Communications and Marketing, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed.
The revised policy, shared on Oct. 29, explained why the university requires advanced notification of planned protests and outlined what kinds of activities are permitted and where. It noted that demonstrations are not allowed within approximately 100 feet of any academic building or 100 feet of any building entrance.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said the regulation still goes too far. “It effectively means that most outdoor spaces on the campus are off-limits to students,” a FIRE spokesperson told NorthJersey.com.
An MSU spokesperson argued that distance is needed to maintain normal university operations. The university was previously entangled in a free speech controversy when a student group filed a lawsuit alleging that the university prevented them from holding a gun rights rally on campus; the lawsuit ended in a settlement, part of which required the administrators to revise institutional speech policies to be less restrictive.
(This story has been updated to correct multiple errors.)
