CFA Vows to Keep Fighting for Speech and Protest After Veto of AB 2551

The California Faculty Association (CFA) denounced Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to veto Assembly Bill 2551, which would have been a critical step toward accountability for the CSU system’s Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) restrictions on campus speech and protest.  

AB 2551, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary and sponsored by CFA, would have amended the Equity in Higher Education Act. It sought to require the CSU to hold a forum on or before December 31, 2027, to gather feedback on how TPM restrictions are being enforced. The bill also would have mandated the CSU Board of Trustees’ annual report to the Legislature to include demographic data on students reported for alleged code of conduct violations connected to these policies. 

“This bill would have served as a vital step in reforming the CSU’s troubling policies limiting free speech and protest,” said Melina Abdullah, CFA Political Action and Legislation Committee Chair and CSU Los Angeles professor. “Despite the governor’s decision that allows for the continued assault on free speech during a time of rising fascism, CFA will continue to advocate for First Amendment rights for students, faculty, and community.”  

CFA has raised concerns that the CSU’s Interim TPM policy has a chilling effect on protected speech and campus activism since it was implemented systemwide without full consultation with faculty, students, or campus community. Faculty have recorded several cases where administrators used TPM policies to levy harsh consequences primarily against Black and Latinx students for relatively minor infractions.    

“Over the course of the past couple years, we have witnessed administrators disproportionately wield TPM policies against Black and Brown students and faculty, giving penalties that make everyone’s ability to practice academic freedom in their places of work and learning far more dangerous,” said CFA President Margarita Berta-Ávila. “Having documented the harsher penalties for TPM violations given to Black students like Angelmarie Taylor at CSU Channel Islands and to Dr. Sang Hea Kil, an Asian professor at San Jose State, we believe these policies are both an assault on academic freedom and a way to attack students and faculty of color for exercising their rights.”    

CFA is deeply disappointed in the governor’s decision to veto. We thank our members, CSU students, and Assemblymember Sade Elhawary for advocating for this bill and pledge to continue the fight to protect campus free speech and right to protest.  

About the California Faculty Association   

The California Faculty Association is a union of 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches across the CSU system. CFA advocates for quality public higher education, fair working conditions, social justice, and expanded opportunities for the students and communities served by the CSU.   

For media inquires, contact communications@calfac.org.