As First Amendment controversies make national news, the University of North Georgia faces its own set of free speech challenges. Since the start of the semester, several student organizations have reported posters being defaced or removed from public areas.
According to Alyson Paul, vice president of student engagement and success and chief student success officer, several groups have been affected, including political organizations like College Democrats, College Republicans and Turning Point USA, as well as religious and LGBTQ+ groups.
Paul explains that students and student organizations are allowed to post flyers on campus without requesting permission beforehand, as long as the flyers are not in hazardous locations. She says that removing these flyers without the consent of the organization which posted them is not just against UNG’s community guidelines, it is unconstitutional.
“It’s not coincidental that the First Amendment is the right to free speech and assembly,” she says. “One of the most bedrock concepts of our nation’s founding is the free exchange of ideas.”
“I think a lot of students misunderstand [how flyers function as a form of free speech] and feel like if it’s one student’s speech to put up, it’s another’s to take it down. I just want to be clear that taking down someone’s flyer or poster is a violation of free speech.”
While Paul says the university has yet to identify a single person or group responsible for tampering with the posters, most reports have come from the Dahlonega and Gainesville campuses. If caught, she says the guilty student or students will face disciplinary action from the Dean of Students.
In the meantime, the Department of Student Engagement and Success will re-print missing or defaced posters as it learns of them.
“[These groups] have taken the time to create their flyers and posters and walk around campus to put them up,” says Paul. “To find out they’re either defaced or taken down is frustrating, especially when no one is held accountable.”
She encourages students and faculty to file a Behavioral Misconduct Form or contact the Dean of Students Office if they witness somebody removing or defacing flyers on campus.
“Things are so polarized, and I think people have just become so scared to hear an opinion that is offensive to them.” -Alyson Paul, vice president of student engagement and success and chief student success officer
“The way that students and people are going about [addressing their differences] is in a really aggressive way, and I’m not sure what that means [for us],” Paul says.
“Now more than ever it’s just showing itself, but it’s always been important for students to have the right to assemble, the right to free speech…and the right to join with others and express those views.”
“There’s also the right to debate, and debate is welcome in the higher education environment. But debate is just that – it’s an exchanging of words and ideas. It’s not removing a thought or preventing a thought from being shared,” she says. “Removing somebody’s flyer or poster is the same as squelching somebody’s speech before they ever have a chance to express it. That’s not something we’re supportive of at all [at UNG], and we’re going to promote all speech. The best thing to combat speech you don’t like is more speech of a different opinion.”
