Policy Number: 8.130
BACKGROUND/HISTORY
This is a policy addressing the rights and responsibilities of students, employees, and visitors regarding distribution of literature, obtaining petition signatures, and soliciting survey responses.
SCOPE
This policy affects students, staff, and visitors who wish to distribute literature, obtain petition signatures, and solicit survey responses.
AUTHORITY
Arkansas code Section 6-61-521 grants the authority to the Board of Trustees to establish rules and regulations for the institution. Section 4.100 of the Board of Trustees Statement of Policies grants authority to the President to implement the policies and procedures of the Board relating to college operations.
DEFINITIONS
“Campus community” means:
(A) the College’s students, administrators, faculty, and staff; and
(B) invited guests of either the College or its students, administrators, faculty, and staff.
"Campus forum" means:
(A) An outdoor area of campus as defined herein; or
Any non-academic and publicly open portion of a facility that National Park College has traditionally made available to members of the campus community for expressive purposes.
"Expression" means:
any lawful verbal or written means by which an individual may communicate an idea to another individual.
“Free-speech zone” means:
an area on the campus that is designated for the purpose of engaging in an expressive activity.
“Harassment” means:
expression that is so severe, pervasive, and subjectively and objectively offensive that it effectively denies access to an educational opportunity or benefit provided by the College.
“Materially and substantially disrupts” means:
a disruption that occurs when a person, with the purpose or knowledge of significantly hindering the expressive activity of another person or group, prevents the communication of a message of another person or group, or prevents the transaction of the business of a lawful meeting, gathering, or procession by:
- engaging in fighting, violence, or other unlawful behavior; or
- physically blocking or using threats of violence to prevent any person from attending, listening to, viewing, or otherwise participating in an expressive activity.
“Materially and substantially disrupts” does not include conduct that is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Arkansas Constitution, Article 2, §§ 4, 6, and 24, which includes without limitation:
- Lawful protests in an outdoor area of campus that is generally accessible to members of the campus community, except during times when the area has been reserved in advance for another event; or
- Minor, brief, or fleeting nonviolent disruptions of events that are isolated and short in duration.
“Outdoor areas of campus” means:
the generally accessible outside areas of the campus of a state-supported institution of higher education where members of the campus community are commonly allowed, including without limitation:
- Grassy areas;
- Walkways; and
- Other similar common areas.
“Outdoor areas of campus” does not include outdoor areas where access by the majority of the campus community is restricted.
“Student” means:
any person who is enrolled on a full-time or part-time basis in a state-supported institution of higher education.
“Student organization” means:
an officially recognized group at a state-supported institution of higher education or a group seeking official recognition, composed of admitted students that receive or are seeking to receive benefits through the state-supported institution of higher education.
POLICY STATEMENT
National Park College shall not limit or restrict the expression of a member of the campus community in a campus forum based on the: (1) viewpoint of the expression; or (2) reaction or opposition from listeners or observers of the expression.
Except as permitted by the First Amendment to the United States 33 Constitution and Article 2, Section 6, of the Arkansas Constitution, or as otherwise permitted by state or federal laws, National Park College will not abridge the expression of a member of the campus community.
Expressive activities protected by the Arkansas Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 6-60-1001, et seq. (hereinafter, “FORUM Act”) consist of speech and other conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, including:
- communicating through any lawful verbal, written, or electronic means;
- participating in peaceful assembly;
- protesting;
- making speeches, including without limitation those of guest speakers;
- distributing literature;
- making comments to the media;
- carrying signs; and
- circulating petitions.
National Park College does not have free-speech zones or other designated outdoor areas of campus outside of which expressive activities are prohibited. However, the College may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions for outdoor areas of campus that are narrowly tailored to serve a significant institutional interest. Such restrictions employ clear, published, content- and viewpoint-neutral criteria, provide for ample alternative means of expression, and allow members of the campus community to spontaneously and contemporaneously assemble, speak, and distribute literature.
A member of the campus community who wants to engage in noncommercial expressive activity in an outdoor area of the campus may do so freely, subject to any aforementioned restrictions, if the individual's conduct:
- is not unlawful; and
- does not materially and substantially disrupt, as defined herein, the functioning of the College.
The College does not discriminate against a student organization based on the expression of the organization, including any requirement that the leaders or members of an organization:
- affirm and adhere to the organization's sincerely held beliefs or statement of principles;
- comply with the organization's standards of conduct; and
- further the organization's mission or purpose, as defined by the student organization.
Nothing in this Policy shall be interpreted as:
- giving a member of the campus community the right to disrupt a previously-scheduled or otherwise reserved activity;
- authorizing a member of the campus community to disregard a policy of the College regarding: (A) compliance with state and federal laws on discrimination and harassment; or (B) the productive and efficient operation of an instructional or work environment;
- preventing the College from prohibiting, limiting, or restricting expression that is not protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article 2, 15 Section 6, of the Arkansas Constitution;
- prohibiting the College from imposing a restriction on the time, place, or manner of expression in or on a campus forum, provided the restrictions are: (a) reasonable; (b) justified without reference to the viewpoint of the speaker; (c) narrowly tailored to serve a significant state interest; and (d) leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information or message contained in the expression;
- limiting the right of campus community member expression elsewhere on campus;
- preventing the College from prohibiting, limiting, or restricting expression that is not constitutionally-protected, including true threats and expression directed to provoke imminent lawless actions and likely to produce it, or prohibiting harassment as defined herein; or
- allowing an individual to engage in conduct that materially and substantially disrupts, as defined herein, another person's expressive activity if the other person's activity is occurring in an area of campus that is reserved for an activity under the exclusive use or control of a particular group.
RESPONSIBILITIES
While not required, students, employees, and visitors are strongly encouraged to reserve designated areas through the office of the Vice President of Student Affairs.
National Park College recognizes and supports the rights of students, employees, and visitors to speak in public, distribute literature, and obtain petition signatures in designated areas of the campus at designated times.
National Park College is a state-supported entity, and its primary purpose is to provide a safe learning and professional environment for its students, faculty, and staff. Activities that are inconsistent with this principle, or which may present a safety hazard, will not be permitted.
In order to maintain safety, security and order, ensure the orderly scheduling of campus facilities, ensure that vehicular and pedestrian traffic will not be impeded, and to preclude conflicts with academic and extra-curricular activities, National Park College may ask that external activities be limited to specific campus locations.
These considerations will allow the College to avoid conflicting events with academic goals.
National Park College will remain neutral as to the content of any public speech or other form of expression.
PROCEDURES/RELATED DOCUMENT AND FORMS
Grievances Permitted
Members of the campus community may present concerns pertaining to this policy or its implementation to the Dean of Students by utilizing the grievance procedure described in the General Complaints and Grievances section of the student handbook.
All general complaints about the operations of the College, personnel, or conditions of the campus should be directed to the Dean of Students at 501-760-4229 or by calling toll free 1-844-806-8752.