The new roles will consolidate free expression–related responsibilities—such as crafting speech policies, training faculty in de-escalation tactics and coordinating with law enforcement.
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Two public universities—the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California, Santa Cruz—are each hiring a student affairs professional whose job will focus entirely on student speech and free expression.
The job postings follow a surge of protest activity on American college campuses—including clashes between student protesters and police at both UT Austin and UC Santa Cruz —and the ensuing avalanche of lawsuits from students, alumni and others who were arrested or disciplined after participating in campus protests. Based on the job descriptions, the new positions will consolidate into one role a variety of free expression–related responsibilities—such as crafting speech policies, training faculty in de-escalation tactics, monitoring protests and coordinating with law enforcement. Whether the new staff members will safeguard students’ rights to free expression or work to censor them will depend entirely on how the role is deployed, experts said.
“The devil is always in the details,” said Michelle Deutchman, executive director of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. “I certainly don’t want to minimize suppression of dissent that has happened over the last couple of years on campuses, but … I do think that a lot of [the job] is about educating students so that they understand what their rights are if they are going to protest. I think the intentionality, at least from the people in those roles, to me seems really positive.”
UT Austin is seeking an “assistant dean for expressive activity support and engagement” who will be responsible for “safeguarding” the First Amendment rights of students, faculty and staff while “ensuring compliance with institutional policy and applicable law,” according to a job ad posted over a month ago. A university spokesperson did not respond to Inside Higher Ed ’s questions about the role, including whether it has been filled.
UC Santa Cruz recently hired a “student engagement and expression specialist” with expertise in student protest, demonstrations and free expression who will “ensure student rights are protected while safety, accessibility, and operational continuity are maintained,” according to the job posting.
“Like many universities across the country, UC Santa Cruz has experienced periods of heightened student activism, demonstrations and challenging campus conversations around national and global events,” university spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason wrote in an email. “The person in this role will build and maintain relationships with student leaders and student activists, as well as other members of the campus community, and help lead and advance existing efforts related to student expression and campus climate.”
‘Consistency Matters’
Such positions aren’t entirely new. The University of California, Davis, employs an assistant director of student expression. Lisa Loveall, who uses they/them pronouns, has served as the director of open expression programs at Emory University since 2024, shortly after the role was created. Before then, student expression work was “ad hoc” and split among many employees in the student affairs department, Loveall said. Their primary charge is to support and enforce Emory’s open expression policy .
“My goal is to remove barriers, educate about the policy and then find ways for the folks who are [participating in] expressive activity to achieve their goals,” they told Inside Higher Ed . “So instead of leading with ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ it’s much more, ‘what are your goals and how can we achieve those? … What ways would you like to achieve that goal, while understanding some of [the policy’s] limitations?”
Much of Loveall's time is spent making sure that everyone on campus understands the policies and how to use them. For example, flier posting policies vary by department at Emory, and Loveall is working with department staff to standardize and formalize them in writing. In another instance, Loveall worked with students to determine when they could use a half-mile hailer—a powerful, long-range bullhorn—during demonstrations.
“What we try to do is say, ‘OK, you can have the half-mile hailer, but let’s do five minutes on, five minutes off. If you’re doing chants, do that off of the half-mile hailer, but if you have a speaker, have them on the half-mile hailer, that way you have a natural break in amplified sound,’” Loveall said.
Whether universities are responding to a campus concert, an extracurricular tabling event or a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Loveall stressed that “consistency really matters.”
“I rarely say ‘protest,’ because more times than not, folks are not protesting—they’re having a rally, they’re having a chalking campaign, they’re having a letter delivery. Everyone equates that to protest, but when you use the word ‘protest’ … most of the time folks will [imagine the worst], and that inherent fear makes [people] want to say, ‘Just put up the stop sign and just make it go away,’” they said. “So I try to break it down. If these are all different expressive activities, then how is this different from a tabling fair as it relates to volume, for example?”
Connor Murnane, campus advocacy chief of staff at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said he welcomes the new positions. He pointed to several other administrators who have taken on work related to protecting free speech on campuses, including Ed McKenna, the director of civic engagement, expression and learning at Dartmouth College, and Mary Kate Cary, who helped craft the free speech policy at the University of Virginia.
“These roles are a good sign,” Murnane told Inside Higher Ed in an email. “Free expression on campus should not be considered only after a controversy pops up. Universities need people who know the rules, can work with and educate students, and can help make sure expressive activity is protected fairly for everyone. Done right, these roles should make speech easier, not merely serve as an insurance policy against disruption.”