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article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
AUSTIN, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 18: The exterior of the Texas State Capitol on February 18, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
AUSTIN – Texas lawmakers are holding their initial hearing Thursday to review campus expression at public universities, an effort sparked by student reactions following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The meeting is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
Freedom of speech in higher ed <\/p>\n
The backstory:<\/p>\n
The joint legislative committee on Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education was formed after Republican leaders criticized some students for appearing to mock or celebrate Kirk’s death in Utah. Lawmakers will take invited testimony on promoting civil discourse, preventing campus censorship and reviewing security for public events. They will also assess Senate Bill 37<\/a>, which increased state oversight of university operations.<\/p>\n State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said the goal is to address “unacceptable behavior” while upholding constitutional rights.<\/p>\n The inquiry follows several incidents tied to the shooting. A student was forced to withdraw from Texas State University<\/a> after a video showed a purported imitation of the killing, prompting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to demand the student’s immediate expulsion. Another student is no longer enrolled at Texas Tech<\/a> after an assault arrest, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating the University of North Texas over alleged failures to discipline students who celebrated the death.<\/p>\n Legal experts have noted that much of the criticized behavior is likely protected by the First Amendment, despite administrative actions.<\/p>\n This focus is part of a wider push to regulate campus expression. Prior legislation, Senate Bill 2972<\/a>, restricted the time, place and manner of demonstrations, though a federal judge temporarily blocked parts of its enforcement at the University of Texas System, citing probable First Amendment violations.<\/p>\n The committee expects to hear from more than a dozen invited witnesses, including university counsel, administrators and students from multiple Texas institutions.<\/p>\n The Source: Information in this article is from the Texas Senate and previous FOX Television Station coverage.<\/p>\n Texas<\/a>Texas Politics<\/a>Education<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article AUSTIN, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 18: The exterior of the Texas State Capitol on February 18, 2023 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,163,223,287,216,395,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-48186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-tx-politics","16":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PREVIOUS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/E4E61FF223126F056E311928890F48DD.jpg\")
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