ALPENA, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Alpena Public School Board President Eric Lawson made it a rule this week during school board meetings that “applause, whooping, cheering, booing, or other demonstrations” were no longer allowed.
“Civility and order.”
The Alpena News reported that Lawson’s policy was prompted by animated debates in the community about LGBTQ policies the school district had considered.
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Lawson objected to a person saying they had the right to clap between speakers.
“Clearly we have a different idea of what constitutes disruption,” Lawson said, according to a video of the meeting. “Robert’s rules gives a council the right to keep order in its meetings. Accordingly, the guidance is that councils can prevent people from those kinds of outbursts and disruptions… I don’t want to come down on anybody really hard, I’m trying to get us to a point where we can have civility and order.
He continued, “If you think about it, you’ll recognize that constant clapping after many, many repetitive comments drags the meeting out unnecessarily and doesn’t really contribute anything to the content. I ask that you do abide by our policy and that we can have a nice orderly meeting where everyone gets to speak. That is, I’m sure you’ll notice, that is my priority, not to silence anyone, so I hope you will, again, abide by our new guidelines.”
Is the policy overboard?
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit free speech watchdog group that monitors speech issues in this state, said the policy could be overbroad.
“Public bodies can adopt reasonable, viewpoint-neutral rules to maintain order during meetings,” said Stephanie Jablonsky, FIRE’s senior program counsel for public advocacy. “This policy may be overly broad to the extent it reaches audience reactions that do not actually interfere with a recognized speaker’s ability to be heard or the school board’s ability to conduct its business. Ideally, the rule would be limited to noise that causes disruption in that way.”
In addition, Lawson said at the meeting that speakers “should not make personal attacks against a school board member or school district employee by name.”
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FIRE has said banning personal attacks is unconstitutional because it is not viewpoint neutral. FIRE said by banning criticism and not praise, the policy is viewpoint discriminatory, which is impermissible. FIRE said a municipality can’t treat criticism, even harsh criticism, more harshly than it treats praise.