Speech, Expression, Assembly

Governing Policies

Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Assembly

The freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly are fundamental rights of all persons and are central to the mission of the College. Students, Faculty/Staff members have the right to assemble, to speak, to attempt to attract the attention of others, and have corresponding rights to hear the speech of others; when they choose to listen, and to ignore the speech of others when they choose not to listen.

Students, faculty and staff members are free to express their views, individually or in organized groups, orally or in writing or by other symbols; on any topic in all parts of the campus, subject only to rules necessary to preserve the equal rights of others and the other functions of the College. Teaching and other official functions of the College will have priority in allocating the use of space on campus.

Except as expressly authorized below under Prohibited Expression, the College will not discriminate on the basis of the political, religious, philosophical, ideological or academic viewpoint expressed by any person, either in the enforcement and administration of these rules or otherwise.

Scope of this Section and Related Provisions

This section concerns the protection and regulation of speech, expression, and assembly of Students and faculty/staff members who are not part of the teaching or other official functions of the College, are not otherwise sponsored by the College or any academic or administrative unit, and are not submitted for academic credit.

This section also addresses the regulation of certain speech that is part of the teaching or other official functions of the College. This entire section applies to speech by academic and administrative units, and speech that is submitted for academic credit; in outdoor locations on the campus. The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee will carry out the duties designated in this section and work directly with College persons or organizations and off-campus persons and organizations to assist in ensuring their freedom of speech, expression, and assembly as authorized under this section.

The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee’s office administers and schedules outdoor signs, tables, exhibits, public assemblies, and amplified sound; even for students, faculty/staff members, and administrative and academic units. Scheduling through a single office is necessary to avoid conflicts.

Any program or event sponsored by an academic or administrative unit of the College will have priority in the use of space and facilities over any speech, expression, and assembly that is not sponsored by an academic or administrative unit, except that programs or events sponsored by an academic or administrative unit will not have priority in the use of weekday amplified sound areas defined in this section. This section does not limit other existing authority of College officials to authorize programs and events sponsored by an academic or administrative unit not provided for in this section.

Additional rules concerning free speech and academic freedom of faculty members are found in the Tarrant County College Board Policy Manual.

General Definitions—Categories of Speakers

As used in this section:

1. “Academic or Administrative Unit” means any office or department of the College;
2. “Faculty/Staff Member” includes any person who is employed by the College;
3. “Off-Campus Person or Organization” means any person, organization or business that is not an academic or administrative unit, a registered student organization or faculty/staff organization, student or faculty/staff member;
4. “College Person or Organization” includes academic and administrative units, a registered student organization or faculty/staff organization, student or faculty/staff member.
5. “Registered Student Organization or Faculty/Staff Organization” includes a registered student organization, a faculty/staff organization, and any unit or subdivision thereof;
6. “Student” means a person who is currently enrolled in the College, or who is accepted for admission or readmission to the College, or who has been enrolled at the College in a prior semester or summer session and is eligible to continue enrollment in the semester or summer session that immediately follows, or who is attending an educational program sponsored by the College while that person is on campus; and
7. “Event” means something that occurs in a certain place during a particular interval of time; events include but are not limited to guest speakers, exhibits, tables, distribution of literature, signs, and public assemblies.

Other General Definitions

1. “Amplified Sound” means sound where volume is increased by any electric, electronic, mechanical or motor-powered means. Shouting, group chanting and acoustic musical instruments are exempt from this rule and are not subject to the special rules on amplified sound, but are subject to general rules on disruption.
2. “Room or Space” includes any room or space, indoors or outdoors, owned or controlled by the College.
3. “Weekday” means Monday through Friday, except holidays and days on which regularly scheduled classes are suspended due to emergency situations.
4. “Day” means calendar day, except holidays and days on which regularly-scheduled classes are suspended due to emergency situations.

Prohibited Expression

Obscenity

No person or organization will distribute or display on the campus any writing or visual image, or engage in any public performance, that is obscene. A writing, image or performance is “obscene” if it is obscene as defined in Texas Penal Code, Section 21.08, or successor provisions, and is within the constitutional definition of obscenity as set forth in decisions of the United States Supreme Court.

Defamation

1. No person or organization will make, distribute or display on campus any statement that unlawfully defames any other person.
2. A statement unlawfully defames another person if it is false, if the false portion of the statement injures the reputation of the other person, and if the speaker has the constitutionally required state of mind as set forth in decisions of the United States Supreme Court.

Incitement to Imminent Violations of Law

No person or organization will make, distribute or display on campus any statements directed to inciting or producing imminent violations of law under circumstances such that the statements are likely to actually and imminently incite or produce violations of law.

Solicitation

1. No person or organization will make, distribute or display on campus any statement that offers or advertises any product or service for sale or lease that includes commercial identifiers, such as for-profit logos, trademarks and service marks, or that requests any gift or contribution, except as authorized by the Tarrant County College Board Policy Manual.
2. Words or symbols on personal apparel, or on decals or bumper stickers affixed to a vehicle by an owner of that vehicle, are not solicitation within this definition.
3. Unadorned acknowledgments or thanks to donors are not solicitation within this definition.
4. Students may not solicit funds, sell merchandise, or distribute material or information on- or off-campus in the name of the College, without approval of the College administration. Students or student organizations wishing to raise funds or distribute materials must have the approval of the Director of Student Affairs and/or the Vice President for Student Affairs.  Once approved, a Registered Student Organization or Faculty/Staff Organization may advertise or sell merchandise, publications, food or nonalcoholic beverages, or request contributions for the benefit of the organization, for the benefit of another Registered Student Organization or Faculty/Staff Organization, or for the benefit of an organization that is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. No organization may sell items obtained on consignment. As required by FI(LOCAL), no organization shall solicit for more than a total of 14 days, whether continuous or intermittent, during each fiscal year. Registered Student Organizations or Faculty/Staff Organizations, and Academic and Administrative Units; may sell, distribute, or display literature that contains advertising subject to the Limits on Advertising set forth in this section. Individual students or faculty/staff members may distribute or display such literature, but may not sell it.
5. Individual students or faculty/staff members may post advertisements for roommates, subleases, and sales of used goods that the seller has personally owned and used; but only on a bulletin board designated for that purpose by an academic or administrative unit in a space that the unit occupies or controls. Any unit that designates a bulletin board for this purpose may regulate that bulletin board under the procedures set forth in Signs and Other Designated Locations section.
6. A Registered Student Organization or Faculty/Staff Organization may sell charitable raffle tickets on behalf of an organization that is authorized to conduct a charitable raffle under the Texas Charitable Raffle Enabling Act, Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 2002, or successor provisions.

General Rules on Means of Expression

Disruption

1. Except as expressly authorized in the Amplified Sound part of this section, or by an authorized College official responsible for a program or event sponsored by an academic or administrative unit; no speech, expression or assembly may be conducted in a way that disrupts or interferes with any:
   1. Teaching, administration or other authorized activities on the campus;
   2. Free and unimpeded flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the campus; or
   3. Signs, tables, exhibits, public assemblies, distribution of literature, guest speakers, or use of amplified sound by another person or organization acting under the rules in this chapter.
   4. The term “disruption” and its variants, as used in this rule, are distinct from and broader than the phrase “disruptive activities,” as used in this Handbook. This rule is concerned not only with deliberate disruption, but also with scheduling and coordination of events to manage or minimize the inevitable conflicts between legitimate events conducted in close proximity.
   5. Except in the most extreme cases, interference and disruption are unavoidably contextual. Intentional physical interference with other persons is nearly always disruptive in any context. Interfering with traffic depends on the relation between the volume of traffic and the size of the passageway left open. Disruptive noise is the most contextual of all, because it depends on the activity disrupted. Any distracting sound that may disrupt a memorial service. Any sound sufficiently loud or persistent to make concentration difficult may disrupt a class or library. These illustrations may be helpful, but none of them includes enough context to be taken as a rule. The College must rely on the judgment and fairness of College authorities in particular cases. In this context where difficult enforcement judgments are unavoidable, it is especially important to remind administrators and law enforcement officials that their judgments should not be influenced by the viewpoint of those claiming disruption or of those allegedly disrupting.
   6. Potentially disruptive events can often proceed without disruption if participants, administrators, and law enforcement officials cooperate to avoid disruption without stopping the event. In cases of marginal or unintentional disruption, administrators and law enforcement officials should clearly state what they consider disruptive and seek voluntary compliance before stopping the event or resorting to disciplinary charges or arrests.

Damage to Property

1. No speech, expression, or assembly may be conducted in a way that damages, defaces, marks, discolors, or alters in any way property of the College or of any person who has not authorized the speaker to damage or deface his or her property.
2. No person may damage, deface, mark, discolor, alter or interfere with any sign, table or exhibit posted or displayed by another person or organization acting under the rules in this section.

Coercing Attention

1. No person may attempt to coerce, intimidate or badger any other person into viewing, listening to, or accepting a copy of any communication.
2. No person may persist in requesting or demanding the attention of any other person after that other person has attempted to walk away or has clearly refused to attend to the speaker’s communication.

Other Rules with Incidental Effects on Speech

1. Other generally applicable or narrowly localized rules, written and unwritten, incidentally limit the time, place and manner of speech, but are too numerous to compile or cross-reference here. For example, libraries typically have highly restrictive rules concerning noise; laboratories and rooms containing the electrical and mechanical infrastructure of the College typically have safety rules and rules excluding persons without specific business there; fire and safety codes prohibit the obstruction of exits and limit the constriction of hallways. Speech within classrooms is generally confined to the subject matter of the class; the right to attend a class at all is subject to registration and payment of tuition; individual professors may have rules of decorum in their classrooms. These kinds of rules limit the right of students, faculty members and staff members to enter and speak in the places to which these rules apply.
2. Reasonable and nondiscriminatory rules of this kind generally have control over the rights of free speech guaranteed in this section. Even these kinds of rules are subject to the constitutional right of free speech. Such rules must be viewpoint neutral. Such rules cannot regulate speech more restrictively than they regulate other activities that cause the problems to be avoided by the rule. Such rules should not restrict speech more than is reasonably necessary to serve their purpose. Such rules cannot ban unobtrusive forms of communication with no potential for disruption even in the specialized environment subject to the localized rule. Thus for example, means of silent expression or protest confined to the speaker’s immediate person, such as armbands, buttons and T-shirts, are nearly always protected because they are rarely disruptive in any environment.

Distribution of Literature

General Rule on Distribution of Literature

1. Registered Student Organizations or Faculty/Staff Organizations, and Academic and Administrative Units may sell, distribute or display literature on campus subject to the rules in this section. Individual students and faculty/staff members may distribute or display literature but may not sell it. In either case, no advance permission is required.
2. “Literature” means any printed material, including any newspaper, magazine or other publication, and any leaflet, flyer or other informal matter, that is produced in multiple copies for distribution to potential readers.
3. Distribution of literature in the classrooms and adjacent hallways is considered “disruption” as that term is defined here in this section and, therefore, is prohibited.

Cleanup of Abandoned Literature

Any person or organization distributing literature on campus will pick up all copies dropped on the ground in the area where the literature was distributed.

Registered Student Organization Literature Disclaimer

Literature distributed by Registered Student Organizations on campus must contain a disclaimer that indicates that registered student organization literature is not official College literature and does not represent the views of the College or its officers.

Signs

General Rule on Signs

1. “Sign” means any method of displaying a visual message to others, except that transferring possession of a copy of the message is distribution of literature and not a sign.
2. Subject to the rules listed in this section; a College person or organization may display a sign by holding or carrying it, by displaying it at a table, or by posting it on a bulletin board or other designated location. Signs may not be posted in any other location.

Hand-Held Signs

1. Students and faculty/staff members may display a sign on campus by holding or carrying it by hand or otherwise attaching it to their person. No advance permission is required.
2. Any person holding or carrying a sign will exercise due care to avoid bumping, hitting or injuring any other person.
3. Any person holding or carrying a sign at a speech, performance, or other event will exercise due care to avoid blocking the view of any other person observing the speech, performance, or event. Depending on the venue, this may mean that signs may be displayed only around the perimeter of a room or an audience.
4. A law enforcement officer or the Vice President for Student Affairs or other College employee, if authorized by officials responsible for managing the venue, may warn any person that his or her sign is being handled in violation of this section. If the violation persists after a clear warning; the law enforcement officer, Vice President for Student Affairs, or other authorized employee, may confiscate the sign.

A-Frames

1. “A-frame” means a movable and self-supporting sign board designed to stand on the ground.
2. A-frames are subject to the rules on exhibits in this section.

Signs in Other Designated Locations (Including Departmental Bulletin Boards)

1. Each academic or administrative unit of the College may authorize the posting of signs in spaces that unit occupies and controls. Such authorization may be granted by general rule, by stamping or initialing individual signs, or by longstanding tradition.
2. Signs in spaces occupied by academic or administrative units may be:
   1. Confined to bulletin boards or other designated locations;
   2. Subjected to viewpoint-neutral rules limiting the size of signs, limiting how long they may be posted, requiring each sign to show the date it was posted and the name of the person or organization who posted it, and similar rules designed to facilitate fair and equal opportunities to post signs; and
   3. Confined to official statements or business of the unit or to certain subject matters of interest within the unit, or to signs posted by persons or organizations affiliated with the unit.
3. Each academic or administrative unit will post on or near each bulletin board or other designated location that it administers:
   1. Either the rules applicable to that bulletin board or location, or a particular office or website where the rules applicable to that bulletin board or location may conveniently be found; and
   2. If a stamp or initials are required on signs before they are posted on that bulletin board or location, the name and office location of the person whose stamp or initials are required.

Tables

General Rule on Tables

College persons and organizations may set up tables from which to display literature, disseminate information and opinions, and raise funds, subject to the rules in this section. No advance permission is required.

Locations

1. Subject to the restrictions and the rules on disruption of other functions and interference with vehicular and pedestrian traffic in this section; College persons and organizations may set up tables in any outdoor location on the campus and in any large, open, indoor location.
   1. Tables may not be set up inside any library, classroom, laboratory or office, or in any hallway less than 10 feet wide without permission from the Academic or Administrative Unit that controls the space, or from the faculty member or staff member who controls the space at a particular time.
   2. An academic or administrative unit may further specify these rules by restricting tables to reasonable locations in spaces occupied by that unit. Academic or administrative units are encouraged to clearly state any such rules in writing, and to publish those rules on a website or on a flyer or pamphlet conveniently available at the chief administrative office of the unit.
2. If any table is set up in a prohibited or disruptive location, any College employee pointing out the violation will also point out other locations, as nearby as is reasonably possible, where the table is permitted.

Cleanup around Tables

Any person or organization sponsoring a table will remove litter from the area around the table before vacating the space.

Sources of Tables

Persons and organizations may supply their own tables.

Exhibits and A-Frames

General Rule on Exhibits

1. “Exhibit” means an object or collection of related objects; designed to stand on the ground or on a raised surface, which is not a table. Is designed for temporary display, and is not permanently attached to the ground. An A-frame sign is an exhibit.
2. Academic or administrative unit, a registered student organization, or a faculty/staff organization may erect exhibits, subject to the rules in this section. Advance permission is required from the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee. Student Affairs accept that an academic unit may authorize indoor exhibits in a space that it occupies and controls.

Application Process

An academic or administrative unit, a Registered Student Organization or a Faculty/Staff Organization desiring to erect an outdoor exhibit will apply on a form prescribed by the Vice President for Student Affairs.

Criteria for Approval

1. The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee will authorize an exhibit described in a completed application unless the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee finds that use of the proposed space for the proposed exhibit must be disapproved under the criteria in this section.
2. The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee will specify the location of each exhibit to reduce the hazard to visually impaired pedestrians.
3. The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee will advise each applicant how to correct, if possible, any conditions that preclude approval of the application. Even if an applicant is entitled to have the application approved as submitted, the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee may give advice about other possible locations or about modifications to the exhibit that would avoid potential problems or make the proposed exhibit more workable.

Time Limits

1. In locations administered by the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee, each exhibit may be displayed for 14 days. The exhibit may be renewed for an additional 14 days if space is available.
2. The exhibit must be removed at the end of each day and may be re-erected each morning. The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee may authorize overnight exhibits in designated locations. Overnight exhibit applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Cleanup around Exhibits

Any academic or administrative unit, Registered Student Organizations, or Faculty/Staff Organizations sponsoring an exhibit will remove litter from the area around the exhibit before vacating the space.

Liability

Any academic or administrative unit, Registered Student Organizations, or Faculty/Staff Organizations sponsoring an exhibit assumes full responsibility for the exhibit, including all injuries or hazards that may arise from the exhibit. The College will not be liable for any damage that may occur to the exhibit, and any Registered Student Organizations or Faculty/Staff Organizations sponsoring the exhibit will indemnify the College for any claims arising from the exhibit’s presence on campus.

Amplified Sound

General Rule on Amplified Sound

Any College person or organization may use amplified sound on campus at designated times and locations, subject to the rules listed below. Advance permission is required.

Location and Times of Weekday Amplified Sound Areas

The Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee may designate additional areas for weekday use of amplified sound.

Regulation and Scheduling of Amplified Sound

1. The  Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee may prescribe rules concerning scheduling, sound levels, the location of speakers, and the direction in which they are pointed; and other rules to facilitate the use of weekday amplified sound areas to mediate any conflict with College functions and other nearby activities, and to manage environmental impact. All such rules will be reasonable and nondiscriminatory.
   1. Organizations wishing to use an amplified sound area must reserve a particular area at a particular time. Reservations must be made with the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee on a form prescribed by the Vice President of Student Affairs. The Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee will approve a properly completed application to reserve an amplified sound area, unless the application must be disapproved under the criteria in this section.
   2. The Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee may limit the number or frequency of reservations for Registered Student Organization, Faculty/Staff Organization, or academic or administrative unit to ensure reasonable access for all persons and organizations desiring to use amplified sound on weekdays.
   3. Persons and organizations using amplified sound are responsible for maintaining a passageway for pedestrians that is adequate to the volume of pedestrian traffic passing through the area.
   4. Any designations of additional areas, any additional rules regulating the designated areas, and the rules and procedures for reserving the right to use a designated area, will be clearly stated on a website or on a flyer or pamphlet conveniently available in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs or the Student Activities office on each campus.

Public Assemblies without Amplified Sound

General Rule on Public Assemblies

1. “Publicly Assemble” and “Public Assembly” include any gathering of persons, including discussions, rallies and demonstrations.
2. College persons and organizations may publicly assemble on campus in any place where, at the time of the assembly, the persons assembling are permitted to be. This right to assemble is subject to the rules in this section. No advance permission is required.

Notice and Consultation

Registered Student Organizations or Faculty/Staff Organizations that are planning a public assembly with more than 50 participants are strongly encouraged to notify and consult with the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee as soon as practicable after the point at which the planners anticipate or plan for more than 50 participants. Registered Student Organizations or Faculty/Staff Organizations planning smaller assemblies are encouraged to consult the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee; if there is uncertainty about applicable College rules, about the appropriateness of the planned location, or possible conflict with other events. The Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee can help the planners avoid unintended disruption or other violations that may result in subsequent discipline or subsequent interference with the assembly by campus authorities.

Guest Speakers

Definitions

“Guest Speaker” means a speaker or performer who is not a College student or faculty/staff member.

Who May Present

Any College person, organization or academic and administrative unit may host Guest Speakers on College property. In the case of Registered Student Organizations, advance notification from the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee is required.

Location and Form of Presentation

1. A Guest Speaker may present a speech or performance, or lead a discussion of specified duration at a time announced in advance, in a fixed indoor location, or in a fixed outdoor location approved by the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee. A Guest Speaker may distribute literature only immediately before, during, and immediately after the normal course of his or her speech, presentation or performance and only to persons in attendance. Only literature that complies with this section may be distributed.
2. A Guest Speaker may not:
   1. Accost potential listeners who have not chosen to attend the speech, performance or discussion; or
   2. Distribute literature to persons who have not chosen to attend the speech, performance or discussion; or
   3. Help staff a table or exhibit set up under this section.

Application

1. A Registered Student Organization that wishes to present a Guest Speaker will apply to the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee on a form prescribed by the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee, at least 48 hours before the scheduled event or any planned advertising for the event whichever is earlier.
2. The Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee will approve an application properly made under this section unless it must be disapproved under the criteria in this section.

Obligations of Presenting Organization

A Registered Student Organization or Faculty/Staff Organization that presents a guest speaker must make clear that:

1. The organization, and not the College, invited the speaker; and
2. The views expressed by the speaker are his or her own and do not necessarily represent the views of the College institution.

Responding to Speech, Expression and Assembly

General Rule on Responding

College persons and organizations may respond to the speech, expression, or assembly of others, subject to all the rules in this section.

Applications of General Rule on Responding

1. Responders may not damage or deface signs or exhibits, disrupt public assemblies, block the view of participants, or prevent speakers from being heard.
2. Means of response that are permitted in many locations and without advance permission or reservation; such as signs, tables, distribution of literature and public assembly without amplified sound, may be used immediately and in any location authorized in this section.
3. Means of response that require advance permission or reservation, such as A-frames, exhibits, and amplified sound, may be used as soon as the needed permission or reservation may be arranged. Some amplified sound areas may be unavailable on short notice because of earlier reservations, but the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee will expedite approval of A-frames, exhibits and available amplified sound areas where necessary to permit appropriate response to other speech, assembly or expression.
4. Means of response that are confined to authorized locations, such as amplified sound, may be used only in those locations. It is not possible to respond to amplified sound with amplified sound in the same location; similarly if an exhibit or public assembly is in a location where amplified sound is not permitted, it is not possible to respond with amplified sound in that location. In either case, it is possible to respond with amplified sound in another location and to use signs or distribution of literature to advertise the response at the other location.

Enforcement and Appeals

Police Protection

1. It is the responsibility of the College to protect the safety of all persons on campus and to provide police protection for speakers, public assemblies, persons staffing or viewing exhibits, and other events. The normal patrolling of officers during regular duty areas in the area of such events will be at the cost of the College. When the magnitude, timing or nature of an event requires overtime hours from police officers (including contract hours for officers hired from other departments or private security agencies), the College will charge the cost of overtime or contract officers to the person or organization sponsoring the event or exhibit that requires overtime police protection. The purpose of this subsection is to charge for police overtime where reasonably possible but not to charge for police overtime made necessary by the content of speech at the event or by the controversy associated with any event.
2. A reasonable and nondiscriminatory fee for overtime police work will be charged to the registered student or faculty/staff organization for events that require overtime police protection, and
   1. Charge a price for admission; or
   2. Pay a speaker, band or other off-campus person or organization for services at the event.            

Persons or organizations planning such events should budget for the cost of police protection.

The College will have the sole power to decide, after reasonable consultation with the person or organization planning the event, whether and to what extent, overtime police protection is required. No fee will be charged for officers assigned because of political, religious, philosophical, ideological or academic controversy anticipated or actually experienced at the event. All fees will be based on the number of officers required for an uncontroversial event of the same size and kind, in the same place and at the same time of day, handling the same amount of cash.

Response to Violations

A student or student organization which violates a prohibition in this chapter may be disciplined.

Appeals

1. A person or organization that is denied permission for an activity requiring advance permission under this section may appeal the denial of permission to the Campus Vice President for Student Affairs or the Campus President.  The decision made by the Vice President or President is final.    
2. A person or organization that complies with an on-the-scene order limiting speech, expression or assembly may, on or before the fifth weekday after complying with the order; file an appeal to determine the propriety of the order limiting the speech, expression, or assembly. The question on appeal will be whether, under the circumstances as they reasonably appeared at the time of the order, the appellant’s speech, expression or assembly should have been permitted to continue. Such an appeal may be useful to clarify the meaning of a rule or to resolve a factual dispute that may recur if the appellant desires to resume the speech, expression or assembly that was limited by the order.