Free speech banned at Edith Cowan University

Students at Edith Cowan University are challenging a ban on politics on campus. Currently, the student guild at ECU prohibits the formation of political clubs, denying students any avenue for free expression or political activism on campus.

Student Tom Freenan explains how the ban works: “I can’t hand out leaflets, set up a table to get petitions signed or hold conversations with like-minded students on campus”.

“What we are talking about here are basic democratic rights to publicly organise, assemble and express ideas. The ban on political clubs appears to be a way of the guild censoring potential political competition”, he said.

When questioned about it, guild president Lewis Price told free speech advocates he didn’t want student guild elections to be contested by political factions.

The ECU ban is part of a worrying national trend in which university administrations increasingly seek to limit political expression on campus, outside the stifling confines of tutorial discussions. But on most campuses, activists can find a way around restrictions through their elected student representative bodies.

At ECU, students leafletting for same-sex marriage rights were shut down by security at the start of the semester. “Security threatened to call police and told us we need to start a guild-affiliated club if we wanted to leaflet on campus”, Equal Love WA activist Clare Francis told Red Flag. “The only catch? ECU student guild doesn’t allow political clubs.”

Students are demanding that the ECU student guild change its policy disallowing the affiliation of political student clubs.