Hosting a speaker on a college campus is normally easy for student groups. In fact, it’s often encouraged by colleges, who claim to support the promotion of diverse ideas.  

That wasn’t the case for my Horns for Life group at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), where I’m currently a student. 

When our group heard news of the opportunity to host Students for Life’s “Do Women Need Abortion Tour,” featuring Dr. Bruchalski, a former abortionist, we immediately started preparing, reserving rooms and submitting guest speaker requests with the school. I’ve done all of this before, so I didn’t expect to run into any problems.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.  

Things proceeded as normal until the Dean of Students’ office mentioned that our event didn’t align with school policy, informing us that we’d have to fix certain issues and agree to various stipulations before our event could be approved.  

More specifically, the office told us our event could not include: 

• Branding or promotional materials that include both the outside organization, Students for Life, and the student organization, Horns for Life 
• Students for Life having primary responsibility for staffing and managing the event 
• Students for Life filming the event for use on their social media 
• Horns for Life co-sponsoring any event on campus with Students for Life or any off-campus organization 

I understand the importance of following policy, laws, and guidelines. But those policies become unfair when they are applied unevenly or when they place undue obstacles on students’ exercise of their free speech rights – both of which were true in this case. 

This isn’t the first time Horns for Life has faced obstacles from UT Austin’s administration. 

Last semester, we asked if we could have our regional coordinator Megan Roos table on campus using poster materials from SFLA’s “Every Life is Valuable” tour, but we were rejected and told that Texas legislation prohibits “exhibits” or display materials from off-campus groups. As a result, we had to move off campus, away from the students we wanted to reach. 

School policy states that a guest speaker may not staff a table or set up exhibits, citing SB 2972, a law passed during the last Texas legislative session to restrict expressive activities on campus.  

But that law is not currently in effect, having been blocked by a federal judge for its likely unconstitutionality. Nor does the law include any clear definition of what constitutes expressive activities or exhibits – leaving the door open for universities to apply a broad definition and restrict freedom of expression.  

A university is a place you go to experience new ideas, diverse opinions, and freedom of discourse. The acts of tabling on campus and hosting speakers are not separate from this mission.  

As students, we expect the University of Texas to support free speech and uphold our constitutional right to express our views. Every human life is worth speaking up for, and every human deserves to be heard. 

Today, Horns for Life is sending a letter to UT Austin demanding that we be allowed to exercise our right to free speech on campus so that we can continue to fight for the preborn.  

This is an ongoing legal matter. Updates will be posted here as necessary.