Wisconsin Legislators Reignite Campus Free Speech Debate

Republican lawmakers in the Wisconsin state legislature have reintroduced a bill that would suspend or expel students who protest or interfere with speeches that happen on state university campuses. In 2017, the state Assembly passed a bill that proposed  suspending University of Wisconsin System students who twice disrupt speeches and expel students who disrupt three events. The bill died in the state Senate, but the university system later adopted a similar policy. A coalition of Republicans is now looking for co-sponsors of the new bill and supporters in the UW system. “Campuses across the country have erupted in protest, including violent riots, as the growing debate over who has the right to speak threatens our nation’s First Amendment. Invited speakers have been taunted, harassed, and even assaulted, leading many universities to cancel events,” reads a memo the group sent to drum up support for the bill. But students, including Laura Downer, the chair of the Associated Students of Madison, feel their voices are being ignored “Students need to be involved in the process of creating the policy and of knowing exactly how administrators and faculty and staff are implementing policy because shared governance is also a state statute,” she said. Connor Mathias, vice president of the UW-Milwaukee Student Association, said that the legislature shouldn’t be involved in the issue at all. “It’s kind of unnecessary for the state Legislature to mandate this. This is already a policy that was accepted by the UW regents and at this point, I just think it’s an unnecessary overstep by the state Legislature when we have great administrations and great dean of students offices on campuses that can deal with this by themselves,” he said. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, however, said that “a university policy isn’t enough to protect free speech, this bill needs to become law.” Some are afraid that language in updates to the bill could allow for white supremacists to speak freely on campus. “White nationalism is on the rise, and Wisconsin is not immune from its scourge. Disturbing incidents of harassment based on race and sexual orientation have occurred on several University of Wisconsin campuses. The proposed changes...could make the situation worse, providing deference and protection to provocateurs and their hateful speech while targeting students, faculty and staff who believe everyone ought to be treated with respect and free from harassment on campus,” read public comments submitted by One Wisconsin, a progressive advocacy organization. The American Association of University Professors is also opposed to such laws because they view them as restrictive and as part of “a much larger well-funded, right-wing effort to disempower public higher education in the United States.” [Wisconsin Public Radio; Milwaukee Independent; The College Fix]

HIRING HOMELESS | The Los Angeles City Council is considering a proposal to create a pilot program that would hire homeless people for various cleanup projects around the city. The project was originally proposed in 2018, but a report found it would cost several million dollars, and the idea was tabled. Councilmember Paul Krekorian said that would be too expensive. "I think we need to roll out a wider net to find other approaches, other programs that may be able to come in at a cheaper-per-person cost to ensure the best result. Especially with homelessness, we launch our pilot programs and that's the last thing anyone hears about it. Are there ways we can serve people for less money? We don't (ask) that very often as a city,” he said. Councilwoman Nury Martinez then asked for a new report that would recommend funding strategy options and create a framework for establishing the pilot. One framework that has already been suggested is to structure partnerships with local nonprofits that could then provide staffing resources, vehicles, supplies, and equipment. [NBC Los Angeles]

CARS IN DRAINS | Sewerage and Water Board crews in New Orleans found multiple cars lodged in an underground drainage canal that feeds water to a pumping station meant to drain parts of the city during heavy rainstorms and floods. The cars were discovered during a recent effort to inspect canals under the city for blockages that might be slowing drainage efforts, as New Orleans has experienced flooding in several neighborhoods during downpours. Since it isn’t known when the last inspection of some canals took place, S&WB Executive Director Ghassan Korban said there isn’t a way to tell how long the cars have been there, or how they got there. "Honestly, it wouldn't be surprising if they haven't been looked at in 10 or 15 years," Korban said. Ramsey Green, the chief infrastructure official in Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration, theorized about the timing of the cars’ arrival. "We are finding, no surprise, a lot of impediments because some of those canals have not been looked at since Katrina. We expect those objects and debris have been sitting there since Katrina,” he said. This isn’t the first time the city has had to deal with blockages that would be unusual in another location—in 2018, crews pulled 46 tons of plastic Mardi Gras beads from the sewers and catch drains during a cleanup effort that took four months and cost $7 million. On Thursday, workers pulled one car, a Mazda 626, out of the canal.  [WGNO; NOLA.com]

RESIDE IN CAPITAL | West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has been accused by a Democratic state lawmaker of violating the state’s Constitution, which requires that the governor should “reside at the seat of government” in the state capital. A lawsuit has been filed by Del. Isaac Sponaugle, who said that the Republican billionaire governor’s coal business has kept him from his duties. “All I’m asking for the man to do is follow the Constitution and he has the inability to do that,” he said. The governor recently released his daily schedule to comply with the state’s open records law, which showed that he infrequently visits the statehouse and rarely meets with his cabinet. He also admitted to residing in a city other than the capital. Brian Abraham, Justice’s lawyer, said it doesn’t matter where Justice lives, as long as he completes his duties. “This lawsuit is a frivolous political stunt designed to distract from the important work that needs to be done for the state,” Abraham said. A circuit court judge extended the case by requesting more documents from both parties. [Associated Press; West Virginia Metro News]

SENATOR ASSAULTED | An anti-vaccine activist was cited by police after he was seen on a Facebook livestream shoving California state Sen. Richard Pan. Pan, a pediatrician, recently introduced a bill to tighten California’s vaccine exemption laws in response to growing epidemics of preventable diseases like measles. Austin Bennett, the activist against vaccines, targeted Pan in a recall campaign earlier this year, and when he spotted him on the sidewalk this week, began following him for several minutes before pushing Pan from behind. California Assemblyman Ash Kalra, who was walking alongside Pan, said the video of the incident doesn’t fully capture how tense the moment was. “The video doesn’t do it justice...It was a hard shove. At first, I thought it was a punch,” Kalra said. Bennett was cited with misdemeanor battery, but Pan said Bennett isn’t the first person to heckle him. “I get harassed on social media, practically daily. We’ve got to tone down the rhetoric. Assaulting a public official is the next logical outcome of violence-inciting language,” he said. [Washington Post; Los Angeles Times]