It has been nearly a year since the University of North Florida campus was declared “open” to free-speech demonstrations, a ruling many students may still be unacquainted with.

Before this ruling, made by the UNF Board of Trustees, on-campus demonstrations were limited to a small area near the Robinson Student Center. In that area, protesters and demonstrators could freely express their opinions as long as academic activities were not disrupted.

“We tried to open up the campus to allow people to freely demonstrate,” said Dr. Karen Stone, general counsel and board of trustee member. “As long as they are not impeding traffic or endangering others, we give demonstrators broad rights.”

The motion, made on Feb. 25, 2004, by the trustees, revised the ruling that only one area of campus be reserved for demonstration. The way the ruling was initially designed appeared to limit free speech, which was not the intent, according to UNF President John Delaney.

Delaney, Stone and members of the Educational Policy Committee decided that the designated “freespeech” area restricted the rights of on-campus demonstrators, according to the minutes of the trustees’ Feb. 25, 2004, meeting.

To alleviate dissension against the original demonstrations rule, the board concluded that the free-speech zone needed to be extended to the entire campus, Stone said.

The modified demonstrations ruling, which expanded the free-speech zone to include UNF’s entire outdoor campus, called for a complete restructuring of the previous demonstrations rule. The revamped measure was approved unanimously by the trustees, according to Stone, now allowing students and outsiders to protest peacefully anywhere outdoors on UNF campus.

But there are restrictions. Indoor demonstrations are strictly prohibited, as well as demonstrations that might cause a clear-and-present danger to the public, said Dr. Joseph Lesem, a professor of communications ethics and law at UNF.

Any demonstration involving the use of electrical amplification or the participation of a large group of people on a significant portion of the campus should be approved by the student life office two weeks before the demonstration, because it could be a disruption to other students, Stone said.

Demonstrations including any of the aforementioned elements are considered to be large-scale events with the capability to disrupt academic proceedings, something Stone said the university does not condone.

Protesters who violate the rules set forth by the trustees are subject to questioning by UNF’s upper-level administration. If demonstrations get out of hand, university police officers have a responsibility to request that the violations cease, Lesem said.

In the event that a violator refuses to comply with university police, participants are subject to arrest or disciplinary action from the university. Lesem said that with a few exceptions, demonstrations at UNF have rarely gotten out of hand.

Regardless, according to Lesem, the extension of free speech into the entire campus is a significant victory for students.

“When you say there’s one designated area for free speech, there’s a flip side to that coin,” he said. “Your freedom of speech is curtailed, which goes against the First Amendment.”

Yet many students and demonstrators are still unaware of the new rules regarding on-campus demonstrations, as a good number of protesters still resign themselves to that small piece of concrete next to the student center, according to senior Wendi Grimes, a communications major.

“Even if all of UNF is a free-speech zone, people don’t know about that,” Grimes said. “I’ve seen about two demonstrators this semester, and they’ve both been in that little box, which is sad.”

The expanded freedoms of the updated demonstrations rule have encouraged more open discussion amongst students, which is a large part of the college experience, according to Lesem.

“That’s what a university is all about — the free exchange of ideas,” Lesem said. “When you go beyond the bounds of the university, that’s what democracy is. I think anybody ought to have the right to say whatever they want.”

Contact Amy Taylor at uspinnak@unf.edu.