Student activist Kira Stuttr speaks to pro-Palestinian protesters at UTSA this spring. Credit: Michael Karlis

A Texas bill that drastically reduces free speech at universities by restricting campus protests is likely to become law, legal experts warn.

Senate Bill 2972, which currently awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature, would ban overnight “expressive activities” — defined as any speech or content protected by the First Amendment — during certain hours at public institutions of higher education. Those would include encampments, flyering, assembling, protesting, holding speeches and carrying signs.

Scheduled to go into effect at the start of the fall semester, SB 2972 would prohibit such protest activity from 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. It would also outlaw wearing a disguise at protests and lowering the Texas or American flag to raise up another. The bill’s ban on “expressive activities” also places limits on percussive instruments and amplified sound after dark — albeit its murky language raises questions such as, “Will dance parties still be allowed?”

The bill also would prohibit such activities from occurring at any time day or night during the last two weeks of each semester if they are deemed “disruptive.” Guest speakers also would be prohibited from presenting on campus during that two-week time period.

Given that it targets overnight political action, the bill is widely seen as a direct response to pro-Palestine encampments that have dotted college universities with tents throughout the country since Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Some legal experts doubt the new state law would hold up in court, saying it constitutes a flagrant attack on freedom of assembly.

SB 2972 also would effectively roll back Senate Bill 18, a 2019 bipartisan bill protecting free speech activities on college campuses in Texas. Many Republicans championed the earlier legislation as a way to protect unpopular far-right events at colleges and universities in the wake of white supremacist Richard Spencer’s cancelled rally on the Texas A&M University campus, as the Texas Tribune reported at the time.

Many of the Republicans who co-authored SB 18 — such as State Sens. Charles Creighton, Jeff Leach, Mayes Middleton and Phil King — are the same ones who champion the new bill rolling back such protections. Indeed, only one co-author of SB 2972 — Sen. Lois Kolkhorst — is not among the coauthors of the original bill.

“Free speech matters not just when you agree with the speech, but most importantly when you disagree with the speech,” Caro Achar, engagement coordinator for free speech at ACLU Texas, told the Current. “Because if you make free speech rights contingent on what someone is saying, not only is that by definition unconstitutional and viewpoint discrimination, but it also makes free speech not a true right.”

Further, the adoption and seeming nullification of SB 18 seems to take previously immutable rights and make them mutable, Achar argues.

“It makes free speech a privilege that can be granted and can be taken away by the government, which is by nature not what it is,” Achar continued. “It is a civil liberty. And so defending it and protecting it and exercising it and making sure that the government is engaging in the act of hearing that speech and hearing that protest and hearing that redress of grievances is literally what makes a democracy.”

The bill’s chilling effect on free speech could be felt far beyond the university campus, given that many campuses serve as gathering spaces for the broader community, Achar said.

“We believe that it is a massive regression of rights for everyday Texans, not just students and faculty and employees of a university,” Achar added. “For many Texans, college campuses are some of the few public gathering spaces in their community, right? It’s easy for Austinites to think of UT as just another space, but they also have the Capitol and they also have all these other public gathering spaces. But, you know, for community members in Lubbock, Texas Tech is a major space for them as Texans to get to gather and express themselves.”

Once SB 2972 takes effect Sept. 1, the measure will place the onus of enforcement on the administration of each university. That presents both a burden and an opportunity, Achar said.

Governing boards, the board of regents, and trustees of universities will still have the power to designate areas of campus as “public forums,” thus imbuing them with the constitutional protections of a traditional public forum. These can include common areas such as sidewalks, promenades and great lawns, the standard locations for direct action.

In the portions of the campus designated as “public forums,” many of SB 2972’s restrictions wouldn’t apply. Therefore, students have the power to pressure their campus administration to expand the areas on campus designated as “public forums” to minimize the effects of the bill, should it become law.

“Students and faculty and staff are well within their right to go to those trustees or go to that governing board and say, ‘Hey, we want you to designate all the common outdoor areas on our campus as traditional public forums,'” Achar said. “There is nothing that would prevent a governing board from making that designation.”

The ACLU is in the middle of updating its campus protest toolkit and will adjust its guidance to include the new law once it takes effect.

Students and others who believe their constitutional rights to free speech are being violated can seek legal assistance through the ACLU with the organization’s intake form.

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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.