Expressive Activity Guide

Expressive activity encompasses a wide range of events from scheduled speakers to arts performances. Good planning includes establishing and sharing event expectations to limit the chance for disruptions and better ensure the event goes according to plan.

With that in mind, below are some tips to help you plan your event. If you need assistance exploring safety considerations, staffing levels, and the limitations on expressive activity on campus, please fill out this form, and a university staff member will be in contact. Large and/or complex events need more planning time, and factors such as being open to the public or having outdoor sound amplification, require more notice. Please contact the campus at least four weeks in advance for events such as these.

Consider the following:

• What type of space is needed, and how can that space be reserved?
• Should participants be issued tickets to attend the event?
• Is the event closed (limited to students, faculty, and staff) or open to the public? If a registered student organization (RSO) wants an event to be open, then it requires academic department sponsorship (see “Inviting the General Public” in the Student Organization Resource and Policy Guide). People or entities that aren’t affiliated with the university can only host an event under the sponsorship or at the invitation of the university.
• If there is a speaker, will the speaker take questions? Will the questions be freeform or submitted through a moderator? How will the event otherwise be moderated? Does the speaker require specific security protocols?
• Will sound amplification be used? See “Sound Amplification” below and note that its use on campus is governed by university policy and state regulation.
• How might you address various types of expressive activity, such as chanting, at your event?
• Are signs, props, masks, or costumes allowed?
• What type of plan, if any, would be needed to address a potential event disruption?
• When and how will you share your event expectations?

The First Amendment protects your right to invite speakers to campus and to plan events; it also protects the right of other campus community members to protest your event if they wish to do so. The university cannot prohibit event protests unless they are unlawful or violate university policy by, for example, obstructing access to the event, shouting down a speaker, or otherwise preventing the event from continuing. To be clear: Protest is part of what the First Amendment protects. However, protest that materially and substantially disrupts an event or attempts to prevent the event from taking place is not permitted under the First Amendment or university policy.

When UW–Madison’s vibrant campus community presents ideas or concepts that you may disagree with or even find offensive, the First Amendment prohibits the university from shutting down discussion based on the viewpoint expressed. Some invited speakers may be controversial. If a speaker has been invited in accordance with university policies, for example, by an RSO or a department, the university is obligated under the First Amendment to be content-neutral and allow the event to proceed. This is also consistent with our commitment to a community that protects the diversity of viewpoints and the core idea that a university is a place for robust engagement with ideas and challenging topics. While the university must be viewpoint-neutral in policies about free expression, the fact that someone is speaking on campus in no way constitutes university endorsement or approval of their message.

In practice, this means the university cannot and will not prevent an event from happening even if some (or even most) in our community disagree with or are offended by its content. As noted earlier, university staff can help event planners consider the potential for disturbances. Please fill out this form to request assistance.

Protesting and activism is expressive activity and, if lawful, is generally permitted in outdoor campus areas if the activity remains at least 25 feet away from entrances to university-owned or controlled buildings and facilities. Since expressive activity that takes place within buildings, rather than outdoors, is much more likely to cause disruption or obstruct the ability of others to navigate the building, protest activity in campus buildings is more restricted.

Protest activity focused on taking or attempting to take over control or establish occupation of university buildings and facilities violates university policy and is unacceptable. Other examples of disruption that are not allowed inside a building include but are not limited to:

• Forming a human chain to block doorways.
• Sitting in hallways or stairwells in a manner that prevents others from using them or makes it difficult to do so.
• Holding up signs in class or otherwise obstructing the vision of others so they cannot see a speaker or the speaker’s materials.
• Producing noise that makes holding class or performing work difficult or impossible.
• Shining laser pointers on a speaker.
• Pulling fire alarms to prevent speakers from speaking or to disrupt classes or university operations.
• Setting off alarms on cellphones.
• Shouting over a speaker so they cannot be heard.

Protesters may use signs in most outdoor areas — signs may not be driven into the ground or affixed to a wall or other structure. Signs used in buildings must be handheld, cannot be attached to sticks or standards, and no larger than 3 feet by 3 feet.

Protests cannot violate university policy or state or federal laws. So, while protesting is a constitutional right, that does not permit all forms of protest. For example, civil disobedience is a form of protest where people peacefully and intentionally break the law to bring attention to their cause. But violating university policy or state or federal law is not a right, nor is it protected by the First Amendment. Students, RSOs, university employees, and visitors who participate in unlawful activity — including civil disobedience — as part of a protest are subject to consequences including university disciplinary processes and criminal prosecution.

Sometimes, the university is called to respond to protests. When doing so, our priorities are to:

• Attend to the physical safety of those involved in protests and the general campus community.
• Prevent disruptions to university activities or operations and obstruction of access to campus facilities.
• Constructively engage with protestors, as appropriate, about their issues of concern.
• Work with protestors to safely facilitate events that include expressive activity.
• Ensure that protests do not infringe on the rights of others.
• Ensure that protest otherwise follows all applicable state laws and university policies.

To avoid discipline or law enforcement consequences, it is your and any connected organization’s responsibility to ensure that your protest follows university policy and state and federal laws. If you have questions, please request assistance in planning a protest or other forms of expressive activity.

Chalking as a form of expressive activity is allowed only on university sidewalks and streets. This means you may not chalk anywhere else on campus including, but not limited to, on or inside university buildings, steps, benches, tables, and lightposts.

Chalk must be water-soluble to protect our UW–Madison campus and the environment. Absolutely no paint, oil-based chalk, indelible marks, or spray chalk may be used. Messaging that doesn’t follow these guidelines is vandalism, which violates the law and will result in immediate removal of the messaging and possible university discipline and criminal prosecution that could involve paying restitution for property damage.

You may not erase or tamper with someone else’s chalked messages. Chalking can only be removed by time, the elements, or by the university in accordance with its policies or when it violates university policy or state or federal law. The university will also remove chalking weekly from high-traffic areas.

Additional information about chalking limitations on campus can be found in UW–Madison’s Expressive Activity Policy.

Sharing information about events, ideas, or issues is often accomplished by posting or handing out informational flyers, also called leafletting. You may leaflet to individuals in outdoor university areas. It’s also okay to post written or printed materials no larger than 11 inches by 17 inches on general bulletin boards and kiosks located in outdoor university areas, but those are the only allowable places. Do not post materials on other locations, such as telephone poles, garbage cans, sidewalks, buildings, or stairs. Projecting images on university lands, facilities, or buildings is also not allowed.

The allowance of posting or leafletting inside buildings varies depending on the building. Please contact the building manager to learn more about a specific building’s rules. See UW–Madison’s Expressive Activity Policy for more detail on rules related to posting, flyers, and leafletting.

Using stakes or sticks in the ground to support free-standing signs or posters is only permitted on the bottom third of Bascom Hill with specific permission and a reservation through the Campus Events Service Office. Reservations of campus space, including the bottom third of Bascom Hill, are limited to:

• university departments
• university faculty groups, staff groups, and RSOs
• government agencies
• other non-university entities, but only under the sponsorship or at the invitation of the university

See UW-Madison Use of Facilities and Land (Policy UW-6000)

In outdoor university areas, you may generally use handheld, battery-powered sound amplification (such as small handheld Bluetooth speakers or a bullhorn). If you would like to use any other kind of sound amplification, whether as part of a planned event or spontaneous activity, you will need to request permission from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. Your application will be evaluated under state law criteria. State law limits the use of sound amplification (other than the campus exemption for handheld Bluetooth speakers or a bullhorn) to the hours of 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day.

The following rules apply to all types of sound amplification:

• No amplification allowed during finals period.
• Use of sound amplification needs to be more than 50 feet from and directed away from any classroom building, residence hall, library, or building being used as a study hall.
• Amplification must not cause a noise disturbance or otherwise disrupt university activities or operations.

You must not obstruct or seriously impair the passage of others through university land or facilities. This includes, but is not limited to, outdoor walkways and spaces as well as building corridors, stairways, doorways, building entrances, fire exits, and reception areas. Expressive activity cannot take place within 25 feet of entrances to university-owned or controlled buildings and facilities. The university may increase the mandatory distance if needed for access to university property or to protect the safety of individuals or university property.

Unless otherwise illegal, UW–Madison cannot punish or prevent speech that you or others find offensive. Speech that is offensive but still legally protected is often best handled by ignoring it or responding with more speech. During your time on campus, if you encounter an idea that offends you, the First Amendment encourages you to respond to that idea by critically examining it and expressing its flaws. When you do so, you explain why that idea is less valuable than another and can persuade others to your view. This is the marketplace of ideas and is the foundation for how common conceptions of complex and challenging ideas, or the collective truth, are formed. See First Amendment and Free Expression FAQ for more details.

UW–Madison acknowledges that sometimes there can be a tension between its obligations under the First Amendment and its deep commitment to creating an environment that values belonging and inclusion for all in our community. That said, no one is entitled to engage in conduct that is prohibited by state and federal law, including violence, true threats, and defamation, discrimination, or harassment.

If you are concerned about active or imminent threats of violence, call 911. If you have questions or information that does not require immediate attention, you may contact any of the following:

University of Wisconsin–Madison Police Department

(608) 264-2677 | police@uwpd.wisc.edu

Office of Student Assistance and Support

(608) 263-5700 | osas@studentaffairs.wisc.edu

Office of Human Resources

(608) 265-2257

If you have questions or would like to file a report of discrimination or harassment, please see the Office of Compliance website. Under federal and state law, the university may prohibit words and actions that meet the legal definition of discrimination. That includes harassment based on race or sex, among other protected categories.

Discriminatory harassment, like unprotected speech, has a specific and strict legal definition that is difficult to satisfy. In general, discriminatory harassment must be sufficiently “severe and pervasive,” which means that frequent and sustained conduct is more likely to constitute harassment than a singular instance of unwelcome speech. The U.S. Department of Education advises that discriminatory harassment “must include something beyond the mere expression of views, words, symbols, or thoughts that some person finds offensive.”

While the university may regulate discriminatory harassment, speech that does not rise to this level is protected by the First Amendment. Federal and state law only permit regulating discriminatory conduct in a manner that also protects the free speech rights of other individuals.