In summer 1968 Adam Clayton Powell announced that he would speak at UT. President Holt declined to allow it. When it was learned that Powell had not actually received an invitation from a campus group, the issue became moot, but the Powell incident prompted the faculty of the College of Law to vote to have UT adopt an open speaker policy and the student government, fortified by a poll of students, to make a similar request.
The board of trustees adopted a policy that supported “intellectual freedom and open inquiry and discussion of diverse ideas and opinions” but also provided that a guest speaker could not use an appearance “for the provocation of violence, riots, disorders” or to disrupt the educational and operational functions of the university. In the fall quarter, Chancellor Weaver declined the request of the Campus Issues Committee to have Dick Gregory speak on campus and then forbade a debate between Timothy Leary and widely known philosopher Sidney Cohen. Issuing an invitation to Gregory was actually twice denied.
The American Association of University Professors, the Student Government Association, and the Faculty Senate pushed for an open speaker policy, and students and faculty brought suit against administrators (Smith et al. v Ellington et al.). The SGA contributed financially to the pursuit of the suit and furnished some of the plaintiffs. In April 1969 Federal District Court Judge Robert Taylor ruled in favor of an open speaker policy. The board of trustees approved such a policy at its June 19, 1969, meeting.
Following adoption of the policy, Gregory was invited to speak and spoke to a crowd of 3,200 in Alumni Memorial Building on April 9, 1970. In the summer of 1970, trustees enacted a policy restricting campus facilities to students, faculty, staff, guests, and those specifically invited.
In August 2013 UT lost a court case in the 6th District Federal Court of Appeals to John McGlone, a Kentucky preacher who was informed by UT that he could not preach on campus because he was not sponsored by a student, faculty member, or other affiliated group. UT changed its policy to allow preachers and any others exercising their free speech rights to operate on city streets and sidewalks within the campus. Those who wish to operate on the campus itself must have an approved solicitation form or be cosponsored by a student organization, in accord with the holding that the institution may protect the educational environment as long as restrictions have nothing to do with the content of the speaker’s message.
In 2013 State Senator Stacy Campfield introduced legislation seeking to curtail use of Student Activities Fees and state monies for the inaugural “Sex Week” on campus, and he and others introduced legislation in 2014 seeking to prohibit the use of any institutional funds for speakers.
In 2014 board of trustee members were advised by Anthony Haynes, UT’s vice president for government relations, that UT would let First Amendment advocates fight any new laws that might be passed by the legislature limiting speakers or topics of discussion, rather than fighting such issues as an institution.