The University of Wisconsin enacted a campus-wide policy on Friday, that bans students from interrupting speeches and presentations, reports the Associated Press.
University leaders announced that students who choose to disrupt those particular events will face suspension or expulsion, the news outlet writes.
Under the newly approved policy, students who have displayed disorderly conduct or obstructed the free speech of others on campus more than twice will be suspended. Those who have committed this offense more than three times will be removed from the school. After the rule was voted on by University of Wisconsin leaders on Friday, the Board of Regents put it into effect.
The university’s system president Ray Cross told the Associated Press that this policy will encourage students to listen to the perspectives of others. “Perhaps the most important thing we can do as a university is to teach students how to engage and listen to those with whom they differ,” said Cross. “If we don’t show students how to do this, who will? Without civil discourse and a willingness to listen and engage with different voices, all we are doing is reinforcing our existing values,” he added.
According to the outlet, the policy was passed after several conservatives claimed that their campus appearances have taken a turn for the worse after being disrupted by students. While Republicans have praised the measure, others have expressed their opposition. According to the news outlet, state public schools superintendent Tony Evers says the policy will “suppress free speech on this campus and all campuses.” Others criticized the policy for not clearly defining what being “disruptive” means.
Savion Castro, a senior at the university, told the Associated Press that this policy goes against the First Amendment. “The whole point of protest is to disrupt the status quo and make people uncomfortable,” said Castro.
This policy comes after former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro’s University of Wisconsin-Madison visit went awry in 2016, the news outlet writes. Earlier this year President Donald Trump threatened to pull funding from UC Berkeley after the institution canceled Milo Yiannopoulos’ visit due to backlash from students.
SOURCE: Associated Press
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University Of Wisconsin Introduces Policy Prohibiting Students From Disrupting Speeches was originally published on newsone.com
