The UT System indicated it will seek to enforce the Campus Protection Act, a law limiting expressive activity on campuses, according to a court document filed Tuesday.

In October, a federal judge paused the system’s enforcement of some aspects of the act, citing the issues with the First Amendment associated with the bill, which would limit the times when students can protest and would prohibit student groups from inviting off campus speakers the last two weeks of the semester or making loud noises during that time. The UT System appealed the judge’s order to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. 

A UT System spokesperson declined to comment.

After the Campus Protection Act went into effect on Sept. 1, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a lawsuit against the UT System on behalf of student organizations at UT-Austin and UT-Dallas, arguing parts of the bill limit students’ right to free speech, citing the “Overnight Expression Ban,” the “End-of-Term Invited Speaker Ban” and the “End-of-Term Amplified Sound Ban.” 

The Campus Protection Act, or Texas Senate Bill 2972, specifically restricts expressive activity on college campuses between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. and bans speakers and amplified sound at the end of the semester. The bill also reverts the University to a “limited public forum,” where expressive activities on campus are exclusively limited to students, faculty and staff, as opposed to members of the general public.

The Campus Protection Act reversed a 2019 state law that designated public universities and colleges as “traditional public forums,” where anyone, regardless of University affiliation, could protest on campus.

Former Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton authored the bill in response to the large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the UT-Austin campus in April 2024, which led to over 130 arrests across two days. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on June 20. 

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to better reflect the nature of FIRE’s lawsuit against the UT Systems. The Texan regrets this error.