Overview

• The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a 59-page federal lawsuit in Austin seeking to block enforcement of Senate Bill 2972 across the University of Texas System.
• SB 2972 took effect Sept. 1 and bans all campus expressive activity from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., while also prohibiting amplification, percussion instruments and invited speakers during the final two weeks of academic terms.
• Plaintiffs include UT-Dallas groups FOCUS, The Retrograde and Strings Attached, UT-Austin’s Society of Unconventional Drummers, and Young Americans for Liberty, who argue the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
• The suit names the UT System Board of Regents, Chancellor John M. Zerwas, UT-Austin President Jim Davis and UT-Dallas President Prabhas V. Moghe as defendants, and UT officials declined comment due to the litigation.
• The UT System recently updated its free-speech policy to align with the law, which was authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton in response to 2024 campus protests and narrows prior open-forum protections.