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Incentivizing Civic Engagement at Public and Private Universities: Tax Exemptions, Laws, and Critical Dialogues

Eric Morrow, Casey Thompson, Payton Jones and Boleslaw Z. Kabala ()
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Eric Morrow: Department of Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401, USA
Casey Thompson: Department of Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401, USA
Payton Jones: Department of Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401, USA
Boleslaw Z. Kabala: Department of Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401, USA

Laws, 2024, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-30

Abstract: What are the differences in how public and private institutions of higher education, with religious schools as a subset of private colleges and universities, approach on-campus protests in a framework of civic engagement? Unfortunately, public, private, and religious schools have all restricted opportunities of speech, assembly, and protest, despite in many cases state and federal courts ruling that this is against the law. With the goal of increasing the civic capacities of students at all institutions of higher education, we propose a mechanism of partial revocation of tax exemptions at universities that do not currently uphold a robust understanding of civic engagement opportunities for all students, which will apply to any college or university receiving federal funding, consistent with the constitutional tradition of free speech still exemplified by Brandenburg v. Ohio and the “national policy” test of Bob Jones University vs. United States . In doing so, we build on the critique of exemptions in the recent work of Vincent Phillip Munoz on religious liberty. By opting only for incentives and by not even incentivizing private institutions that continue to restrict civic engagement but that do not accept federal dollars, we affirm and support a mutually beneficial ongoing dialogue among public, private, and religious schools. This dialogue, as it is sharpened and maintained in place by our recommended policies, is also consistent with pluralism as conceptualized by Jacob Levy.

Keywords: freedom of speech; law; civic engagement; freedom of assembly; student activism; equity; justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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