The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education has been required by state law to uphold free speech on college campuses.

In spring 2024, the higher education Free Speech Committee kicked off its training on the statutory requirement at the University of Central Oklahoma.

According to reports, Committee Chair Andy Lester pledged to make our campuses cornerstones of critical thinking by “not by avoiding challenges or disagreements, but instead by encouraging free inquiry, free debate, and free thought,”

“We can – we must – make our campuses welcoming places for the civil, respectful discussion of ideas,” he said at the time.

Lester’s words contrast with the UCO administration’s recent decision to ban the printing of the campus newspaper, The Vista, with one dean declaring the “decision

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