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'USA Today' on UC Davis, Pepper Spray, and Free Speech on Campus
Over at USA Today College, Jordan Friedman reports on the University of California, Davis incident where student protesters were pepper-sprayed while exercising their First Amendment rights. The students were each awarded $30,000 as a part of a settlement last week. Friedman notes:
[T]he incident at UC-Davis and its implications raise a greater question: What are common restrictions to students' free-speech rights on college campuses, and when are these limits justified?
Friedman enlists FIRE's own Will Creeley and the Student Press Law Center's Frank LoMonte to answer that question. Check it out!
Recent Articles
Get the latest free speech news and analysis from FIRE.
TICKETS ON SALE: Step up to the Soapbox in Philadelphia, Nov. 4-6, 2026
Tickets on sale for Soapbox 2026 in Philly! Nov. 4–6. Fearless debates, bold speakers, and a gala celebrating free speech at America’s 250th.
LAWSUIT: FIRE sues Federal Trade Commission over agency’s targeting of news rating service
The Federal Trade Commission has unconstitutionally used its broad regulatory powers to attack NewsGuard, a private news organization, because it doesn’t like its news ratings.
The secret war against student journalists
Across the country, colleges are using conduct hearings to punish student reporters for basic newsgathering — chilling who gets to tell campus stories.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (of protected speech)
The FBI is probing Signal chats that track ICE activity — without evidence of a crime. That’s not law enforcement. It’s a First Amendment problem.