Wisconsin Legislature passes campus free speech bill

A Wisconsin bill promoting free speech on campus and another to limit the fees charged for online courses in the University of Wisconsin system have now passed the Legislature and will head to Gov. Tony Evers.Senate Bill 532 would prevent University of Wisconsin schools from assessing the online class fees unless the school can show actual additional costs to conduct the classes online.
Bill sponsors say that fees for online-only or hybrid courses can add up and be a hidden way for the university to add cost to college.
Representatives from the UW System said in committee that online courses can cost more for technology purposes and due to training of professors but those costs are sometimes difficult to identify clearly.
The bill passed the Assembly 53-45 after passing the Senate, 18-15.
The campus free speech bill would carry a punishment of two academic years of frozen tuition if a school violates any of the requirements of the bill multiple times in a five-year period.
Senate Bill 498 pass the Assembly 53-45. It requires that the colleges not restrict free speech if the speaker is lawful or restict the time, place or manner of free speech on campus. The school cannot create a “free speech zone” and limit speech to that area, require a permit to limit expression or require a security fee be paid.
“When more than one out of every three students at UW–Madison believes violence is an acceptable way to suppress speech, it’s clear we have a serious civility problem on campus,” Nedweski said in a statement, citing a recent survey by the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “AB 501 simply puts the UW’s own free speech policy into law and ensures it is enforced. We cannot allow violence or intimidation to become a normalized substitute for free debate.”

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