Election Activities and Other Advocacy

The following questions may help you make decisions about how you choose to exercise your right to free speech within a public university context.

• Can I use my work email account to send out emails in support of a candidate or issue?

  • Employees are generally precluded by law from using state resources to advocate on behalf of candidates or on issues like the budget, for example. “State resources” is broadly defined and includes in-kind resources, such as work email, office printers and other equipment, office supplies, university facilities, and employee work time. In short, whatever advocacy you engage in must occur outside of work and with your own personal equipment and devices.

• Can I reach out to my elected representatives in Congress or the State Assembly and urge them to act?

  • SJSU employees are free to engage their elected representatives outside of work time and with use of their personal resources. If an employee identifies as an SJSU employee during that particular engagement, they must stress that their engagement is not on behalf of the university. Before highlighting your employment at SJSU, it’s important to think about how the elected representative’s office might view the call (e.g. “X from SJSU recently called to urge Rep. Y to pass legislation addressing sidewalk safety”) and try to mitigate any potential confusion. You should  state verbally and/or in written communications that you are calling as a private citizen and not on behalf of the university. 

• Can I use social media to advocate for an issue or candidate?

  • SJSU community members are free to use their personal social media accounts outside of work time to support candidates or advocate for issues, but they must not use any official accounts for that purpose. Whenever a campus employee’s name is accompanied by their campus title, there may be the natural assumption that the person listed represents the official position of the university. If SJSU is identified as your employer somewhere in your profile, you must be careful to note that the views expressed by you (even if it is content that you reshare from others) are your own personal views and not those of the university. As mentioned above, you may not use your work computer or other work-issued devices for such activity and you may not engage in such activity during work time.

• Can I sign petitions addressing issues? 

  • Faculty and staff can sign their name to letters or other written documents that advocate for a variety of political positions, but SJSU community members must also be careful to avoid the appearance of speaking or acting in the name of the institution. For example, when signing a petition, you should use your personal contact information rather than an SJSU email account. Oftentimes, the mere reference of an employer may lead people to assume that you are speaking on behalf of that employer. If, for whatever reason you provide your SJSU affiliation, you must make clear that the opinions that are expressed by the community members are not the opinions of the college or university.

• How might I engage in educational activities on topics that are often politicized?

  • Given all of these guidelines, you may wonder how to participate in educational activities and programming on issues that have become partisan, such as DACA, COVID-19 public health policies, climate change, and institutional racism and racial profiling. As a state employee, you are welcome to work with students on designing programs and participate in educational activities about current issues and civic engagement. However, state employees should reference the above guidelines when they participate, being careful not to cross the line from advocacy about specific issues to advocacy for specific political parties, political candidates, or ballot initiatives.