…“The big irony here is that the political right has been for years and years and years criticizing campuses for not enabling enough free speech,” Kevin McClure, a professor of higher education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said. “And now they are vociferously arguing in favor of repressing students’ free speech rights.”

UT-Austin officials have said they had reason to believe that protest organizers planned to take over school spaces, like pro-Palestinian demonstrators have done at other campuses across the country. But free speech advocates wonder whether those fears were enough to crack down on protesters, raising questions about when speech is protected in Texas universities — and who gets to enjoy those protections.

“What we’re seeing here is this hypocrisy of big double standards saying we love free speech, not this speech,” said Alex Morey, the director of campus rights advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression…

Source: As UT-Austin arrests continue, free speech questions arise | The Texas Tribune