My campus charges $350 for a free speech permit - then rejected me anyway

I wanted to host a small table in the student union plaza last Tuesday to talk about housing rights in our city. Turns out my school requires a permit for any expressive activity in that area, even just standing with a sign. The permit fee is $350 for a 4 hour slot. I paid it, showed up, and a security guard told me my topic was 'too divisive' and kicked me out after 30 minutes. Found out later from a student newspaper article that the policy was written 5 years ago after a protest about the dean's salary got out of hand. Has anyone else run into these crazy permit fees at their campus?

3 comments

3 Comments

caseythompson10h ago

Dude @wade250 nailed it, the security guard was on a massive power trip. Had the exact same thing happen at my old school with a $200 "event coordination fee" just to put up a table about rent control. Paid it, showed up, and the student life office shut me down after an hour saying my flyers were "too political." Meanwhile the Young Republicans club had a whole table setup right next to me with no permit at all. Its like they write these fees to price out regular students and only let the big clubs with funding do anything. That $350 is just a way to keep people quiet behind a cost wall.

irisowens19h ago

honestly this feels like a lot of drama for something that probably could have been handled with a little more planning. i mean $350 is steep for a permit sure but like most campus policies get written because someone before you messed it up for everyone else. you said yourself the policy came after a protest got "out of hand" which probably means people were yelling or blocking walkways or something. its not like the school is picking on you personally. plus housing rights isnt exactly a safe topic for any public space these days people get really heated about it. maybe the security guard was just being extra careful because of whatever happened before. not saying its fair but it sounds like you could have just set up off campus somewhere cheaper and not had to deal with any of this.

wade25014h ago

Nah, $350 for a permit is wild when you consider free speech is literally protected. The security guard was probably just on a power trip, not being "careful" about some old protest.