Kansas Board of Regents to consider new Social Media Policy

News Release:

TOPEKA, KAN. - The Kansas Board of Regents will consider substantial changes to the social media policy adopted in December.  Chairman Fred Logan said, “The Governance Committee is recommending that almost every word proposed by the social media workgroup be included in the revised policy. The revised policy also explicitly provides that it must be interpreted in accordance with First Amendment and academic freedom principles.”

Today the Board made available a draft of the revised policy that incorporates the recommended revisions.

“I want to again thank the members of the workgroup for their helpful consideration of this issue,” stated Logan. “When you compare the original policy with the workgroup’s recommended policy, you will see that they have had a major impact on the Board’s work in this area. The revised policy will contain the strongest statement made by the Board anywhere in its policy manual in support of academic freedom and First Amendment expression.”

The workgroup, made up of faculty and staff from the six state universities, provided its written recommendations and report to the Board’s Governance Committee members a week in advance of the April 16 meeting, during which the Committee reached consensus on proposed revisions.

The original Board policy language, the workgroup’s recommended policy, and the revised policy language can now be viewed at the following link: http://www.kansasregents.org/recommended_amendments_to_current_social_media_policy

The Committee intends to convene a special meeting in early May to review the revised policy language before forwarding the committee’s final recommendation to the Board for consideration. The Board of Regents will next meet May 14-15, in the Board Office, Suite 520 at the Curtis State Office Building (1000 SW Jackson) in Topeka, Kansas.

For more information, contact Breeze Richardson at (785) 291-3969 or brichardson@ksbor.org.