FAQs: Events and Protests

Conference and Event Services is happy to work with you to navigate all the policies and to connect you to people on campus that can help you.

Smith Memorial Student Union Facility Use Procedures 

All policies are in place regardless of the viewpoint of the organizer. The policies Conference and Events can help you to navigate as you schedule your events include, but are not limited to:

• City ordnances regarding noise or park usage

• County ordnances regarding food

• University policies for space usage, building hours, or how spaces can be used.

The exercise of freedom of expression does not mean its unlimited expression at all times, in all possible manners, in all places.  Public entities, including the University, have the right to regulate the time, place, and manner of speech activities to assure the safety of individuals, the protection of property, and the continuity of the educational process and business operations.  These rules are often referred to as called “time, place, and manner” or TPM restrictions. The need to consider University TPM restrictions--such as requiring people to refrain from using amplified sound during certain times, enforcing occupancy limits to a venue, observing building hours, or requiring that ingress and egress points to a room or building are not unsafely blocked--are examples of TPM restrictions.  This is one reason why we ask students to work with administration when planning their events so that their events can be successful and not violate these content-neutral TPM restrictions. 

Under First Amendment law,   Portland State University as a public institution, cannot ban or punish speech based on its content or viewpoint. Because campus policy permits Registered Student Organizations to invite speakers to campus and provide access to campus venues for that purpose, the university cannot take away that right or withdraw those resources based on the views of the invited speaker. Doing so would violate the First Amendment rights of the student group. Only under circumstances, described below in “What are some types of speech are not protected by the First Amendment?” section, can an event featuring a speaker invited this way be cancelled.

Secondly, once a speaker has been invited by a student group, the campus is obligated act reasonably to ensure that the speaker is able to safely and effectively address his or her audience, free from violence or substantial disruption.

You have a right to express your opinions on campus as long as you do so in a way that doesn't "materially and substantially" disrupt classes or other school activities, or “impinge upon the rights” of others.[1] The expression of your opinion on campus also cannot disrupt other students’ academic pursuits.[2] In other words, protest on campus is a protected activity so long as it does not substantially disrupt campus events, affect the rights of others to exercise their own free speech rights, or disrupt other students’ academic pursuits.

• Avoid activity that infringes on the rights of others, such as blocking and preventing the movement or access of others.

• Follow the lawful instructions of a police officer or public official, such as staying behind barricades, dispersing from an area declared an unlawful assembly, not resisting arrest. It is against the law to disobey a lawful order by a police officer.

• Leave the area where others are engaging in illegal activities and acts of violence. Your presence may be interpreted as participating in a riot or illegal group action. Staying overnight in a campus building after hours is prohibited.

• Refrain from speech that incites others to commit acts of violence such as pushing, kicking or spitting on others, destruction of property or other unlawful actions.

• Make informed decisions. If you choose to engage in civil disobedience and get arrested, know the potential consequences. See the Student Conduct Code for more information.

Members of the university community and outside guests have the right to peacefully protest a speaker, meeting, or event, so long as the event being protested is able to continue without significant or material disruption.  When people assert their speech rights, they cannot decide for the entire community which ideas will or will not receive free expression. Accordingly, seizing control of a forum for one’s own purpose, or directly or indirectly preventing a speaker from speaking, is an unacceptable form of protest.  

No, this would violate established law.  PSU Administration must remain content neutral and cannot cancel events for political reasons.  

The Supreme Court has made it clear that a public institution like Portland State University cannot prevent speech because of a fear that the speech will provoke a hostile response. Stopping speech before it occurs is called a “prior restraint,” and prior restraints of speech are rarely allowed. 

While the campus is constitutionally required and philosophically committed to protecting speakers and to preventing disruption or violence, if the university determines that the event cannot be held in a safe manner (serious threats to person or property), the event can be cancelled or postponed.  Such action cannot be based on the views or content of the speaker.