Editor’s Note: Gianna Cassino and Colin Hamilton, members of the Editorial Board, are also members of the student activism group UConnifer.
On Sept. 8, the University of Connecticut published a cancelation notice in the Environmental Monitor for the construction of the proposed East Road golf facility. The golf facility faced widespread criticism from state health agencies, watchdog groups and members of the state legislature due to its potentially negative environmental impact.
The cancelation marked the triumphant end of a nearly four-and-a-half-month grassroots campaign organized by UConnifer: a coalition of students and local community members who worked to draw attention to the project’s environmental concerns.
The broader implications of this victory for student activism at UConn require attention. In recent years, student activism has suffered — a rippling effect of our administration’s repression of student protests against Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people in 2024. The protest, a peaceful encampment located near Dove Tower, ended in the arrest of 25 UConn students with charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.
UConn’s administration responded to this peaceful protest by shaping policies to create a high barrier of entry to all on-campus demonstrations. Among the policies implemented were restrictions on sign postage, amplified sound and any outdoor gatherings that may disrupt adjacent activities. These changes drew reproach from both on-campus student groups and labor unions.
With this negative environment for activist expression, it is no surprise that UConn is considered to have poor First Amendment expression on campus. The Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression, a nonpartisan nonprofit civil liberties organization, ranked UConn at just 195 out of 261 schools surveyed for campus speech climate in its 2026 report. On its report card, UConn received an “F.” This failing grade is attributed to both campus policy and a lack of institutional neutrality.
The successful student campaign run against the golf facility on East Road, however, shows that students can rise above our campus’s administrative norms when exercising their free speech. Ultimately, what these activists achieved was not unique. In the context of previous activist groups, the East Road campaign was small, sporadic and at times lackluster. The group’s most notable event, a protest last April, amounted to only a few dozen active participants. The majority of the group’s outreach consisted of media outreach, research and petitioning — small and targeted tasks which were scattered across a timeline of several months.
In this sense, the golf facility case study represents an achievable “everyman” of student organizing. Any one student advocating for a cause has the potential to find the same success that those advocating against the East Road golf facility did. The response to the facility represents not only a chance for students to find their political voice in an increasingly partisan world but also offers to break through the speech climate barrier outlined by the FIRE report. Regardless of the cause advanced by UConn students, the Editorial Board believes that the exercise of free speech by students on campus is an important catalyst for sparking meaningful political change. Furthermore, the Editorial Board asserts that peaceful student activism is both a civic right and a personal responsibility — and cannot be taken away by any one institution.
The Editorial Board encourages students to look towards the example set by the cancelation of the golf facility on East Road. While the campaign has ended, the need for outspoken voices has not. Our nation relies on civic participation to ensure its envisioned founding liberties are upheld, and to ensure that all voices are represented in its decision making. The college campus is an ideal environment for the development of this participation and warrants involvement. As The Daily Campus is a medium for free speech, the Editorial Board once again reminds all students of the importance of activism and of the First Amendment right to protest.
Editor’s Note: The version of this editorial that was originally published in the printed edition and website edition of The Daily Campus was an earlier draft that had not yet been reviewed by all members of the Editorial Board, and had accidentally been sent for publication. This website version has been adjusted to match the intended piece, and a correction will be issued in the Sept. 22 version of the paper.