UVA announces new rules on outside groups speaking on campus

The University of Virginia announced new rules on the use of its Charlottesville campus by outside groups less than a year after a white nationalist rally held on the campus turned deadly.

“The University of Virginia is committed to the Constitutional principle of free speech and to the safety and security of every member of this community,” Teresa Sullivan, the university’s president, announced Friday, according to The Washington Post.

“The university has issued a revised policy regarding the time, place, and manner of expressive activity by unaffiliated persons meeting outdoors. The policy requires unaffiliated persons to make reservations to engage in expressive activity in certain designated locations, on certain days and during certain hours, on outdoor university property.”{mosads}

Last August, hundreds of attendees and protesters fought violently at a campus event planned by white nationalist leaders Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler, intended to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a city park. After police forced the crowd to disband, a car crashed into a group of protesters, injuring dozens and killing one woman. 

The university reportedly banned Kessler from its campus months later in April following allegations that he had threatened students.

The university’s policy, which went into effect Friday, requires outside groups to make to make reservations at least a week in advance for “expressive activities” on the campus. Alumni also fall under UVA’s definition of “unaffiliated.”

The university also limited groups gathering for more than two hours on campus to nine designated areas and barred individuals and groups from the campus who are carrying weapons, blocking traffic and impeding university operations.