Why Iowa State University banned political chalk messages ahead of the Iowa caucuses

Iowa State University student Ben Whittington says he doesn't like to see racial slurs and swastikas scrawled in chalk around campus, but banning political "chalking" altogether isn't the answer. 

The university in Ames, Iowa, has issued tight restrictions on the campus tradition of chalking ahead of Monday night's Iowa caucuses in an effort to curb hate speech. 

"I understand that that's hurtful to people. It's hurtful to people like me, and it's hurtful to me personally," Whittington, who is black, told As It Happens host Carol Off. 

"But … I believe that the best way to combat that type of speech is with speech that promotes diversity and inclusion, speech that highlights more, or reflects more, the principles of our community than, you know, those racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic words and slogans."

A campus tradition 

Chalking has long been a tradition on college campuses across the United States.

Iowa schools, in particular, are a hub for it during the Iowa caucuses, which officially kick off the U.S. presidential nomination process. 

Usually, Iowa State would be decked out in colourful messages supporting and denouncing presidential candidates during the caucuses. 

But in November, the school issued new rules that limit chalking to registered student groups advertising campus events that are open to all students.

The effective ban on political chalking is an interim policy. A more permanent set of rules is in the works that would allow for other kinds of chalking, but limit it to specific areas of campus. 

In an emailed statement, Iowa State said the proposed policy takes into consideration feedback from the university community.

There's this kind of like this culture shift where the right seems to think that it has like a monopoly on civil liberties, especially freedom of speech, but that originally was a liberal idea.- Ben Whittington, Iowa State student

Iowa State isn't the first school to tackle the thorny issue. The University of Iowa has similar restrictions, and Wesleyan University in Connecticut banned chalking in 2003.

In a statement to the New York Times, Iowa State's president, Wendy Wintersteen, said that the university had to balance its commitment to free speech with its obligation to protect students from "illegal discrimination and harassment."

Divided campus 

A group called Students Against Racism initially pushed for the ban after noticing a spike in hateful messages, including references to Adolf Hitler, anti-Semitic slurs and anti-immigrant screeds like "Send them home."

The new rules prompted a First Amendment lawsuit from a group called Speech First.

"We filed the case on behalf of some of our student members at Iowa State University," Nicole Neily, president and founder of Speech First, told Iowa State Daily.  

The organization is represented by the law firm Consovoy McCarthy, which the New York Times notes is linked to several conservative causes, including a lawsuit against Harvard University for its affirmative action policy, and U.S. President Donald Trump's battle to keep his financial records private.

On campus, the College Republicans are largely against the move, while College Democrats mostly support it. 

Sehba Faheem, the president of the College Democrats, told the New York Times that chalking has made it easier to spread hateful rhetoric on campus. Ryan Hurley, president of the College Republicans, says the hateful messages are not coming from his organization's members. 

But the divisions don't always fall neatly along partisan lines. 

Whittington, for example, is a Democrat who supports Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.

"There's this kind of like this culture shift where the right seems to think that it has like a monopoly on civil liberties, especially freedom of speech, but that originally was a liberal idea. And I want to keep that as a liberal value and a liberal principle," he said. 

"I think that if it's not for free speech, we wouldn't have things like the women's movement, or the civil rights movement, or any of the movements that have really improved the lives of people like me and people all across like the world, let alone the country."

Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from Katie Geleff. Interview produced by Kevin Ball and Chloe Shantz-Hilkes.