U. of Arkansas ends ban on political activity

Abstract

John Mark Huckabee, the son of Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee, has succeeded in his protest against a state-university-system policy limiting political expression on campus. Huckabee is a student at Ouachita Baptist University and president of the state's College Republicans.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's oldest son, a student at Ouachita Baptist University and president of the state's College Republicans, has triumphed in his protest of a state-university-system policy limiting political expression on campus.

John Mark Huckabee said a rule forbidding students to actively support or oppose outside political candidates had kept student political groups at the University of Arkansas from recruiting new members and distributing campaign literature.

The policy has not been enforced since the 1998 election year, when B. Alan Sugg, president of the University of Arkansas System, issued a memorandum affirming that university facilities could be used for political purposes, subject to space and time restrictions.

Not satisfied with that, Mr. Huckabee decided to try to get the offending rule wiped completely off the books.

In October 1999, after gaining the endorsement of the state's Young Democrats, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the national College Republicans, he petitioned Mr. Sugg to change the rule. Late last year, Mr. Sugg issued a memo officially striking the rule from the system's administrative handbook.

Fred H. Harrison, general counsel for the university system, said the offending language had been a vestige of a Board of Trustees policy that had been rewritten in 1988. He thanked John Huckabee for pressing the issue, and said, "It's fair to say that as long as the policy existed, it could have a chilling effect on speech."

Mr. Huckabee called the result a slam-dunk" for free expression. ."The First Amendment won out on this issue, and the rights of students in Arkansas won out on this issue" he said.