Texas cannot make up its mind about free speech.

In 2019, it enacted legislation seeking to promote a robust and uninhibited exchange of ideas in its public colleges and universities. Aptly called the Protected Expression on Campus Act, that law required higher education institutions to develop and promulgate policies protecting freedom of speech and assembly and to make those policies public. It prohibited them from preventing students or faculty from inviting speakers to campus because of the controversy their visits might cause, and mandated that students who interfere with the free speech activities of others be subject to university discipline. And it took the additional step of saying that outdoor spaces on campus would be “traditional public forums.”

Such a forum is generally understood to be a public area open to anyone to exercise rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Conservatives enthusiastically supported the 2019 law, believing that it would ensure their viewpoints would be aired on campuses awash in political correctness.

But the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel and its aftermath changed everything. And on June 25, the Lone Star State changed course when Gov. Greg Abbott (R)

© The Hill