If it is up to one Wyoming law student, many UW students will better understand their constitutional rights on campus.
Travis Wagman, a second year UW law student, presented a power point to UW students regarding their rights as students on Wednesday.
Wagman’s presentation, “How far is too far?” concerned students’ rights per the First Amendment involving freedom of expression.
“Our rights of expression are significant to a government’s interest, tailored to serve government interest and consider alternative forms of communication involving expression,” Wagman said.
Elizabeth Goudey, an attorney for students in the Student Legal Services program through ASUW, assisted with the event. She said that the presentation’s goal was to discuss limits on students’ expression.
“This presentation is for Travis’s externship, and he focuses on the limits of student expression both on the college level and the high school level,” Goudey said. “A lot of what he is talking about can be found the Student Code of Conduct handbook,” Goudey said.
“My goal today is to discuss students’ First Amendment rights to expression including things you can say or wear,” Wagman said.
One of the major components of the presentation was students’ digital expression rights.
“Students can put whatever they want on the Internet, but it could also get them in trouble, so ultimately they need to learn how to respect the Internet,” Wagman said.
Wagman said that student conduct online could be especially troublesome over social media.
“A student has the right to state on social media that they go out and drink or smoke weed, they can publicly express it,” Wagman said. “But if they get in trouble for committing those acts then they just proved to law enforcement that they really did.”
Wagman concluded his presentation with a quote from seminal philosopher Voltaire, ‘“I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’”
