I just has to post these, with credit to the photographers, because this has been a very sweet victory for the students and all involved. We're glad to have been part of the coordinated pressure to help this along.
KVUE: Graves said the swift action was partly due to a significant amount of feedback from UT alumni and other members of the community who learned of the controversy through media reports.
I just wanted to make a brief statement of support, thanks, and congratulations to some folks in regards to last nights' explosion of activity regarding the UT Sign Policies.
First off, major kudos to UT President Bill Powers, whose statement was quick, striking, and supportive of Free Speech over aged policies. While it does not mean the issue is dead, it is an indication that UT is willing to do more than simply delay or suspend the issue, but instead review it on its face in a collaborative setting to reach a fair, constitutional policy. I think being the former Dean of the Law School certainly helped and it re-enforces my general positive feelings about Powers in his role as President.
Secondly, this would not have been possible without Connor and his cousin Blake being willing to stand up for their free speech rights in the face of possibly harsh penalties. It's a huge risk, and one that most would not take lightly. But in the end, tremendously worthwhile.
And lastly, major thanks to the coalition of both the University Democrats and College Republicans who were brought together by their shared design to protect students rights in this matter. That's leadership.
The University of Texas President, William "Bill" Powers, just released this statement regarding the suspension of the rule regarding political signs in dorms.
The University's rule prohibiting the display of signs in students' residence hall room windows has been the subject of a great deal of discussion for the past few days. I am keenly aware that this prohibition is of intense concern to many members of the student body, as well as the larger community. I believe that the free expression of ideas is crucial to our educational mission, and that our rules should foster civil discourse and debate. I conclude, therefore, that this rule should be carefully reviewed with the participation of all constituencies in The University of Texas at Austin community, including students.
Effective immediately, I am suspending the prohibition on signs in individual students' residence hall room windows and any sanctions related to its enforcement. The rule will be removed today from the Division of Housing and Food Service's rules, and will be replaced with an interim regulation that expressly allows the display of signs and posters in students' residence hall room windows.
Juan Gonzalez, Vice President for Student Affairs, has kept me well informed on this issue. I have asked him to convene a committee composed of all major constituencies to discuss all aspects of the policy on residence hall room signs and make recommendations on any changes that need to be made. The interim rule allowing signage in individual students' residence hall room windows will remain in place until the committee issues its report and I act upon their recommendations.
William Powers, Jr.
President
This is a testament to both the students who passionately organized around their right to free speech and the University of Texas for doing the right thing.
It is clear that this was not the intent of the rule, and while the University had to regretfully adhere to the rules that were on the books, it is great to see that they proceeded with an open mind. After attending a private university, it is shocking to see the students and university work to such an amiable outcome.
Now it is time to focus on something important, beating Oklahoma this weekend.
In an e-mail, the Vice President of legal affairs at the University of Texas has stated the rule that would have prevented students Connor and Blake Kincaid from registering from classes has been suspended.
"My recommendation was that the University suspend the rule regarding no signs in dorm windows and discuss it among a broad campus group, including students, to determine what the policy should be. I am happy to say that this recommendation was accepted."
It appears that Connor and Blake Kincaid will be allowed to register for classes and students will be allowed to have political signs on the interior side of their windows. This should completely resolve the situation between the bipartisan, student led protest and the university.
Update: The Austin American Statesman has Jeff Graves, associate vice president for legal affairs at UT quoted on today's actions.
[He] said that rule was suspended this morning and the university will convene a committee of students and staff to review it. Until then, students are free to display whatever signs they want in their windows, he said.
It has been confirmed that cousins Connor and Blake Kincaid will be leaving their political signs up in their dormroom windows in protest of UT's ruling Wednesday evening. Via press communication from the University Democrats, which jointly with College Republicans, opposes this ruling and supports the Kincaids.
These two gentleman did not remove their signs and were asked to appear at hearings today before the Judicial Board today. In seperate hearings, they asserted their right to free speech, and the University Democrats rallied in support of these two right outside the hearing room.
Having refused to comply with an order to remove the signs by 7pm today, these two men have been barred from registering for Spring Classes. Now, they face the possibility of more extensive judicial action, which could culminate in them being expelled from the dorms.
We should start seeing the reports appear online from TV stations across town and papers across Texas. KEYE News reports on the Kincaids' decision and that the ball is now in UT's court.
"At this point, the signs aren't coming down," Connor Kincaid said. "We're going to leave them up and let the university make its next move. And If that means our next move is filing a suit in court, we're ready to do that."
The signs are still standing. Fox News will be broadcasting live at 9pm.
Liveblogging tonight from the University Democrats meeting.
It just opened up with an announcement about the breaking political signcontroversy.
Elise Hu at KVUE appears to have the first story up online about the controversy:
"I think to be able to display political speech in this manner is specifically what the constitution and the First Amendment was designed to protect," said Connor Kincaid, a UT sophomore.
Kincaid and his roommate Blake Kincaid faced a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday afternoon. There, they were both forced with a choice. Take down the signs or their student records would be frozen, barring the students from registering from classes.
"We're confident that our rule is constitutional and that is legal under state and federal law," said Graves.
The roommates, whose father is an attorney, say they may challenge this in court.
"We don't want to make a big deal about these signs, but we're willing to if the university wants to make it a big deal," Kincaid said.
Meanwhile, the University Republicans and the University Democrats are banding together to file a formal complaint with UT over the sign policy.
Word is that Kincaid is going to keep his sign up and the issue will move forward with court challenges. The University Democrats and College Republicans will be filing a joint complaint with the University. With picture of the Come and Take It flag projected behind him, University Democrats president Zack Hall spoke to the issue.
There appears to be the start of a reaction coalition to fight back on the sign front with students placing signs in windows to force more judicial hearings to proceed. This issue will not be dying quietly.
UPDATE by Phillip: Here's a link to the relevant Supreme Court case, Tinker V. Des Moines.
The case involved a student's right to wear an armband to protest the Vietnam War. The key issue in that case was how to resolve a student's right to free speech with a school's right to regulate potentially interfering speech (such as dress). Here's the key quote for why the student's right to free speech was guaranteed:
Our problem involves direct, primary First Amendment rights akin to "pure speech."
The school officials banned and sought to punish petitioners for a silent, passive expression of opinion, unaccompanied by any disorder or disturbance on the part of petitioners. There is here no evidence whatever of petitioners' interference, actual or nascent, with the schools' work or of collision with the rights of other students to be secure and to be let alone. Accordingly, this case does not concern speech or action that intrudes upon the work of the schools or the rights of other students.
The line the Court has drawn is pretty clear. Should Kincaid choose to pursue this issue in court -- a deeply, deeply difficult decision to make -- he'd have excellent standing going forward.
The University of Texas has come to an official decision against Connor Kincaid and his roommate regarding their political signs placed on the window of their UT dormitory. They were told that if they do not take down their signs within two hours, they will be barred from registration.
Further, the students were informed that if they refuse to take the signs down after a longer period of time (I believe two weeks), then further judicial action would take place. Further judicial action could possibly even include expulsion from the University. Kincaid and his roommate plan to keep their signs up.
Both students, along with leaders from University Democrats and College Republicans, spent a lot of time talking to the press. The sign of the two students being surrounded by peers holding Obama-Noriega and McCain-Palin signs was simply heartwarming. At least some people here care about the Constitution (both state and national.)
A new argument I heard today from UDems President Zack Hall was that Texas law prohibits Homeowners' Associations from only one action: barring their residents to place political signs in their yards. This situation isn't much different. Hall says he is willing to bring this to the Supreme Court.
Hall also encouraged UT students to place windows on their dorms and "force UT to have a thousand hearings," even if the students comply with the orders. Some students who were there and also a part of other organizations expressed interest in getting even more student organizations involved.
And now a fun fact: as Zack Hall was speaking to cameras in front of a large crowd of students, an Obama-Noriega sign went up in a window up above.
BREAKING: UT has ruled against the students. They have until 7pm to withdraw their signs. If not, they will be barred from registration, effectively being expelled from UT. I'm heading over to be on site (every media station in Austin and beyond is there) though early word is that one of the students may stand firm and either appeal through the University system or take this to court.
In a story that has already garnered statewide attention from the Dallas Morning News, KEYE 42, and of course started here in Austin at the Daily Texan, the University of Texas at Austin appears to be on the verge of issuing on of the most idiotic possible rulings of the political season.
At issue- the critical threat to campus security and "aesthetics" posed by Obama/Noriega and McCain signs on dorm doors and windows. Here's what's currently going on as this post is being written.
Two University of Texas students have been summoned to a judicial "hearing" later this afternoon for refusing to take down a political sign on their dorm room door and window.
At this hearing, officials are expected to impose sanctions on these students. According to the UT Division of Housing and Food Service website, sanctions include writing an "educational essay" or creating a "poster assignment" to "effect a change in behavior and to help the student understand how his or her behavior impacted others in the residence hall community." If the students fail to abide by the sanctions they face possible removal from the residence halls and being barred from school.
I've heard reports from the hearing and it's looking like UT is leaning towards siding against the students. The penalty being considered I'm told is that if they refuse to take down the signs, they will be barred from registering for spring classes.
What really personally outrages me about this is the excuse given by the University.
"It's to control the aesthetics of the University," Jeff Graves, Associate Vice President for Legal Affairs, said. "It's so we're in control of how we're presented to the community. We don't want to have signs plastered everywhere because it would quickly get out of hand."
Having been involved in multiple campus organizations as well as Student Government agencies, I'm aware of the 18-year old "handbook" policy that UT is using to base their argument on and claiming has been "routinely enforced". Of course, I, and every other student on campus, know it is a total farce as that policy is only occasionally enforced (maybe during Student Government elections) and was not enforced to any degree in 2004. And it's also no surprise that the few times UT choses to enforce their "sign" policy tend to be during elections (and only until the last couple of elections have started removing signs in front of the FAC early vote site).
The University of Texas needs to pull the stick out of their collective administrative ass and understand that a campus that had 99.58% turnout on campus in 2004, is in 2008, a student body that contains tremendous political energy. For the first time in a generation (maybe since the late 60's and early 70's when UT put planters in the West Mall to silence and disrupt student organizing), students are hyper engaged in the political system, educating, creating, learning, debating, and developing their worldview. Isn't that the point of a University Education?
Learning - A caring community, all of us students, helping one another grow.
Discovery - Expanding knowledge and human understanding.
Freedom - To seek the truth and express it.
Leadership - The will to excel with integrity and the spirit that nothing is impossible.
Individual Opportunity - Many options, diverse people and ideas; one university.
Responsibility - To serve as a catalyst for positive change in Texas and beyond.
Connor Kincaid, one of the students at the center of this issue had released this statement prior to today's hearing.
Connor Kincaid, University Democrats member and the student at the center of the controversy, argues that the policy is unconstitutional and says the University is unjustified in its actions. "Decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court hold that a student's free speech cannot interfere with their surroundings and that it cannot interfere with the educational process," he said in The Daily Texan yesterday. "How does hanging a sign up in a window interfere with its surroundings or have any affect whatsoever on educating students? I don't know of any classes that meet on sidewalks outside of dorm room windows. Tinker v. Des Moines ruled that wearing an armband to class in order to protest the Vietnam war did not interfere with the educational process, so it is absurd to argue that a piece of cardboard in a window interferes with the learning environment UT offers."
"I am of the opinion that this policy clearly violates the First Amendment and that there is no reasonable justification for restricting a student's right to express their political views in the form of a sign. My roommate and I have decided not to remove our Obama/Noriega signs that were provided to us by the University Democrats and are determined to continue exercising our constitutional rights."
It should be noted, this UT policy is being challenged jointly by the University Democrats and College Republicans.
"There's not a lot of stuff this election season that's uniting Democrats and Republicans," President of the University Democrats, Zack Hall, said.
"But this is one thing we can all come together on and I haven't met one student who's not upset with this policy," former President of the University Republicans, Brandon Lighton, said.
Be careful where you tread UT. Lighting that match could be a bad idea.
FYI: Members of the University Democrats will rally with the signs this evening at their General Meeting at 7:00pm in Gearing Hall 105 on the UT campus (corner of 24th & University Ave). Media are encouraged to attend.
Liveblogging tonight from the University Democrats meeting.
