College of San Mateo is considered a non-public forum, except for those areas that are generally available for use by students or the community, which are limited public forums. Use of the limited public forums shall be regulated by the following procedures regarding time, place and manner of speech found in the College Policies section of the catalog.
Individuals or groups wishing to make use of College space for making retail products or services available are subject to the On-Campus Vendor Policy, available through the Center for Student Life & Leadership Development.
The College is not a public forum, except for designated areas generally available to students and the community as follows:
- The areas generally available to students and the community are limited public forums. The College reserves the right to revoke that designation for areas when they are no longer generally open to students and the community and apply a non-public forum designation.
- The College reserves the right to designate areas as not a public forum as necessary to prevent the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the College. Areas of the college that are not public forums include, but are not limited to, instructional and administrative buildings and outdoor instruction areas.
- Persons using areas generally available to students and the community and/or distributing material in the areas generally available to students and the community shall not impede the progress and/or the ingress or egress of passersby, shall not block entrances and exits to campus buildings, nor shall they harass passersby or force passersby to take material.
- No person using the areas generally available to students and the community shall touch, strike or impede the progress of passersby.
- Persons using areas generally available to students and the community shall not use any means of amplification that creates a noise or diversion that disturbs or tends to disturb the orderly conduct of the campus or classes taking place at that time.
- No persons using the areas generally available to students and the community shall solicit donations of money, through direct requests for funds, sales of tickets or otherwise, except where he or she is using the areas generally available to students and the community on behalf of and collecting funds for an organization that is registered with the Secretary of State as a nonprofit corporation or is an approved Associated Students Organization or club.
- Any public meeting, demonstration, or rally on campus will be governed by the regulations of the College of San Mateo as to time, place, and manner.
- Students have the full right to express their views on any matter, subject to college regulations in regard to time, place, and manner.
- Disruptive behavior is defined as any action which interferes with the functions or activities of the College to the point where such functions or activities can no longer effectively continue. Examples of such functions or activities are classroom activities, athletic events, administrative activities, approved assemblies, meetings and programs, and construction work. Examples of disruptive activities are blocking access to college facilities, disrupting classroom activities to the point where the instructor, in his/her opinion, is no longer able to continue the class, heckling an assembly speaker so that the speaker cannot continue talking, and unauthorized use of sound equipment.
All persons using the areas of the college generally available to students and the community shall be allowed to distribute petitions, circulars, leaflets, newspapers, and other printed matter. Such distribution shall take place only within the areas generally available to students and the community. Material distributed in the areas generally available to students and the community that is discarded or dropped in or around the areas generally available to students and the community other than in an appropriate receptacle must be retrieved and removed or properly discarded by those persons distributing the material prior to their departure from the areas generally available to students and the community that day. Placing fliers, leaflets, or other materials on vehicles parked in CSM parking lots is prohibited; violators will be charged with the costs related with cleaning such materials left in campus parking lots. (San Mateo City Ordinance 10.40.030)
Please refer to SMCCCD Board Policy 2.31, Speech: Time, Place and Manner for more information.
Revised June 2013
