Dept Of Labor Relations To Investigate Campus Space Usage Policy

The University issued a new campus space use policy at the beginning of the fall semester that limits where protests can occur, requires faculty, staff, and students to show ID upon request, and holds individuals or groups organizing a demonstration accountable for any potential damage that might occur during an event. In October last year the FSU called on the administration to rescind the recent unilateral space-use policy changes and subsequently filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the Department of Labor. On 1/21 The investigator found that probable cause exists that UMB's new campus protest policy interferes with, restrains, or coerces employees in the exercise of their right to engage in concerted, protected activity in violation of c. 150E, Section 10(a)(1).

The FSU-MTA complaint specifically identifies the following changes to the space use policy:

• It contains a broader definition of protests and demonstrations without size requirements;
• It gives the university more discretion to deny a request for individuals to gather on campus, and contains no appeals process;
• It changed the list of previously approved locations to hold protests to less centrally located or populated places, and prohibits the use of many interior spaces for protests;
•  It requires protest organizers to indemnify the university for all harms arising out of the protest; and
•  It requires all individuals taking part in protests and demonstrations to provide ID upon request from a university official.