Guest Opinion | Both sides now: free speech and politics in Iowa – UI The Daily Iowan

A UI law professor and state representative argues that Iowa Republicans are perpetrators of free speech.

Kate Heston

Christina Bohannan, Representative-Elect for the Iowa House of Representatives in District 85, holds a Biden-Harris sign in the air. Patrons celebrate the Biden Harris presidential victory in Mercer Park on Sunday. The event was hosted by Johnston County Supervisor RoyceAnn Porter. Patrons celebrate the Biden Harris presidential victory in Mercer Park on Sunday. The event was hosted by Johnston County Supervisor RoyceAnn Porter.

As a law professor, I am a strong defender of free speech. Defending free speech as a constitutional principle means defending the right of people to speak even when I disagree with their message.

As a Democratic state representative from Iowa City, I recently heard a lot about how Iowa Republicans believe they are victims of First Amendment violations. The Iowa House Government Oversight Committee held hearings to review complaints that the regent universities had infringed on conservative students free speech rights. In the University of Iowa case, the College of Dentistry dean admitted the college was wrong to schedule an inquiry for a student who criticized the colleges statement opposing an Executive Order issued by then-President Trump.

I readily concede that the UI made a mistake. Under the First Amendment, a state university should not punish anyone for commenting on a matter of public concern. It is antithetical to the universitys educational mission to foster debate. I was glad to see that university officials immediately recognized their mistake and reversed course.

But there is another side to this story. Iowa Republicans claim they are victims of free speech violations, but they are also perpetrators. Several of them introduced bills that blatantly violate principles of free speech and association.

Here are just a few of the egregious examples from the first five weeks of the legislative session:

Iowa House and Senate leadership should have pronounced these bills dead on arrival. Instead, they breathed life into them by assigning them to committees and allowing them perhaps to advance to the floor. Even if these bills dont ultimately pass, they damage our educational system every time they are publicly debated.

When conservatives believe their free speech rights have been violated, they are right to call it out. But our Republican state legislators also need to clean up around their own doorstep. And they should certainly stop playing the victim when they hold all the political power in the state and are wielding it to suppress the free speech of thousands of Iowans.

Christina Bohannan, Democratic state representative, Iowa House District 85; University of Iowa Law Professor

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Guest Opinion | Both sides now: free speech and politics in Iowa - UI The Daily Iowan