Members of the Legislative Affairs Committee met Monday night in part to discuss the upcoming student council vote on campus free speech.
The conversation comes after an October Board of Regents announcement that there would be a vote on proposed punishments for students found to be disrupting free speech of peers or invited speakers.
The committee emphasized caution in discussing the issue with the public and with legislators. Legislative Affairs Vice Chair Tess Iding made clear the Associated Students of Madison have not yet created a cohesive response to the Board of Regents proposition.
In the student council’s meeting last Wednesday, a vote of 9-5-3 moved ASM’s stance on the Regent’s bill into suspension.
The Board of Regents will meet this Thursday in Madison. There is no mention in the schedule for the meeting about discussing the free speech bill.
Iding exercised restraint in pushing the regents on the policy and is currently exploring the impact of Legislative Affairs’ presence at the meeting. Iding also highlighted the benefits of having a UW-Madison student on the board.
“Thankfully we have a UW-Madison student who is on the board of regents, Torrey Tiedeman,” Iding said. “[Legislative Affairs Chair Katie Malloy] is currently talking to him right now — trying to figure out whether it would still be beneficial to have a bigger presence at this meeting on Thursday.”
Update 11/6/19 3:33 p.m.: The headline has been updated to clarify that the student council has yet to vote on free speech legislation.
