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Petitions and Handbills (D-25)

Original Implementation: July, 1980
Last Revision: July 19, 2011

These rules shall govern the circulation and distribution of all petitions (a document embodying a formal written request made to an official person or organization) and handbills (a printed sheet that is distributed by hand), on university property.

  1. Students, employees, and their approved organizations may circulate and distribute petitions and handbills on university property, except in academic buildings unless otherwise authorized by law.
  2. Visitors, defined as any person who is not presently enrolled as a student nor is presently employed by the university, may circulate and distribute petitions and handbills in assigned areas of campus upon approval.
  3. Students, employees, and their approved organizations shall require no previous approval to circulate or distribute petitions and handbills on university property so long as the individual or group(s) sponsoring the petitions or handbills is clearly identified in writing on the material itself.
  4. All persons or organizations seeking to distribute a petition or handbill without identifying information must complete a registration form with the Office of Student Activities and deposit a true and correct copy of the petition or handbill to be circulated or distributed.
  5. Areas and times of circulation and/or distribution are as follows:
    1. Students, employees, and their approved organizations may circulate and distribute properly registered (if required by this policy) petitions and handbills on university property at any time and in any location, except in academic buildings unless otherwise authorized by law.
    2. Visitors may circulate and distribute properly registered petitions and handbills in the area of campus assigned as a part of the registration process. On the days visitors have been approved to be on campus, they may circulate and/or distribute petitions and/or handbills between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on the days registered for.
    3. Handbills may not be placed on parked vehicles or any other stationary object, (i.e., table, bench, etc.) as a means of distribution.
  6. Registration must be made through the Office of Student Activities at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance to facilitate orderly scheduling of the circulation and/or distribution area(s).
  7. Circulation and distribution by all parties must be conducted in compliance with these rules and university policy and must not:
    1. result in a breach of peace or violation of law
    2. interfere with the free and unimpeded flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic; or
    3. materially disrupt or interfere with the normal activities of the university.
  8. The person or organization circulating or distribution these materials shall clean and remove any litter which results from this activity.
  9. No person or organization may circulate or distribute a petition or handbill that:
    1. violates the university’s policy on solicitation;
    2. contains material that is obscene or libelous; or
    3. advocates the deliberate violation of law.

      For the purposes of this section "advocacy" means preparing the group addressed for imminent action and directing it to such action with the likelihood of producing that action, as opposed to the abstract espousal of the moral propriety of a course of action.

      All decisions regarding prohibition of a petition or handbill based on content would follow the procedures outlined in the signs policy, D-31, Section IV.

  10. In addition to these rules, petitions and handbills to be circulated and distributed by students, faculty, and staff, and their approved organizations, in:
    1. residence halls must comply with the rules governing residence halls; and
    2. the Baker Pattillo Student Center must comply with the rules governing this building and its grounds.
  11. These rules do not apply to:
    1. the university, and its agents, servants, or employees, acting in the course and scope of their agency or employment; and
    2. the Stephen F. Austin State University Alumni Association and the Stephen F. Austin State University Foundation.

 

 

Cross Reference: U.S. Const. amend. I; Signs and Exhibits (D-31)

Responsible for Implementation: Vice President for University Affairs

Contact for Revision: Dean of Student Affairs

Forms: Registration Form, Student Affairs/Student Activities

Board Committee Assignment: Building and Grounds