A few weeks ago NSNS reported on the University of Illinois prohibiting its faculty, staff and graduate students from participating in political rallies on campus or demonstrating any political preference including wearing buttons or sporting bumper stickers on their cars. The administration based its decision on a state law intended to prevent state workers from campaigning for candidates on state time and money. The governor’s office even went a step further to assert that the law applied to students and would prohibit any political student groups from meeting on campus. While it is not uncommon for schools to set limits on political activities allowed on campus (public schools, for example, are prohibited from using school money to fund partisan campaign activities), and the university stated they would not directly enforce the policy, the effort to discourage political activity on campus thoroughly ruffled the campus community. Students and faculty stood up for their academic freedom and held an on-campus rally for presidential candidate Barack Obama and then promptly and respectfully alerted the university ethics office. On Monday the university president declared the controversial policy moot, and assured students and faculty that they were free to engage in politics however they wished. This is not the only instance of a school attempting to curb civic engagement on campus. The University of Oklahoma instructed students last month that they were prohibited from using university email to endorse or oppose a candidate, or to forward political humor and commentary.
On Monday the university reversed its policy.

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Read this NSNS post about the U of I policy