Students and young people have historically led protest movements, from the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins that fueled the civil rights movement to antiapartheid marches on college campuses to women’s rights activism, to tuition hikes that have spurred protests across America. But the nature of student protest is changing—not necessarily in how effective it is, or even how often, but in what kinds of tactics it employs and where they take place.
Can universities regulate the size of student protests?
Colleges can impose limits on the number of participants in a protest, as long as they do not discriminate based on viewpoint. They can also limit the times when a protest can occur and where it can take place, as well as regulating noise levels. But these limits must be reasonable and not a way to shut down all protests.
Can a school require that protesters get a permit?
A public university can require that a group of protesters, or a larger group, obtain a permit before using campus spaces. This can be justified by the university’s need to ensure that students and faculty have clear access to classrooms, to protect safety and security, and to manage educational processes. Universities cannot, however, restrict speech because administrators disagree with it.
The First Amendment does not protect a group of students from shouting down invited speakers at an event hosted by a campus organization. Nor does it protect a group of students from refusing to leave a space they’ve occupied (for example, a campus encampment) in favor of a different speaker.