Weekly Briefing: When free speech and drag shows collide

In South Dakota a battle over campus drag shows could turn into a free-speech conflict. ADVERTISEMENT [Weekly Briefing Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. You can now read The Chronicle on [Apple News]( [Flipboard]( and [Google News](. Drag shows, free speech, a public college’s governing board, and a governor collide Last month, Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a Republican, [wrote a letter]( to the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s six public colleges, asking it to ban drag shows on college campuses. While the board hasn’t yet followed through on Noem’s request, its decision could have lasting consequences for LGBTQ students, state leaders who oppose such drag shows, and the college officials who work to please both groups. Drag shows — whether on a campus or in a public library’s story hour — have recently become a target of conservative politicians. The battle over college drag shows has played out in courts in two states. Students at [West Texas A&M University]( sued its president and other administrators after it canceled a student drag show in March. In Tennessee a federal judge ruled this month that state restrictions on public drag performances [violated the First Amendment](. Last fall South Dakota State University‘s Gender and Sexualities Alliance billed its drag show as “kid-friendly.” Before the event, conservative lawmakers asked the institution’s president, Barry H. Dunn, if taxpayer money was being used to fund the show. Dunn said a registered student organization, not the university, was funding it. While the show went off without a hitch, by December the Board of Regents had asked college presidents to stop allowing children to attend events hosted by student organizations while the group reviewed student-activity policies. In May the board approved a new “minors on campus” policy. The rules say that programs involving minors may not include, among other things, “obscene live conduct” or anything that meets the legal definition of “harmful to minors.” But some Republican lawmakers in South Dakota thought that wasn’t enough. They introduced two bills this spring to ban state colleges from funding or sponsoring drag shows. The governor is now involved. [In her letter]( asking the board to ban drag shows she made other demands, including that references to preferred pronouns be removed from campus materials. A spokeswoman for the board said it was still reviewing the governor’s letter. Noem’s office did not respond to a request for comment. In the letter, the governor also directed public colleges to protect free speech. LGBTQ and free-speech advocates say that students express themselves through words and actions, and banning such expression (through drag and drag shows) limits that freedom. Zach Greenberg, a senior program officer for campus-rights advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told The Chronicle that if the board agreed to Noem’s request to bar campus drag shows, litigation was likely. [Read Kate Hidalgo Bellows’s full story here](. ADVERTISEMENT NEWSLETTER [Sign Up for the Teaching Newsletter]( Find insights to improve teaching and learning across your campus. Delivered on Thursdays. To read this newsletter as soon as it sends, [sign up]( to receive it in your email inbox. Lagniappe - Learn. In many parts of the world, climate change means it’s getting [too hot]( for summer activities. (The Atlantic) - Read. Have you heard of Peter Freuchen? Me neither, until I read [Wanderlust: An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age]( by Reid Mitenbuler. The book is about Freuchen, a medical-school dropout, Arctic explorer, advocate for Inuit people in Greenland, Hollywood writer, and part of the Danish resistance to the Nazis. 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