In 2019, Texas guaranteed expansive First Amendment protections on college campuses with a new law intended to be a corrective to ideological conformity in higher education.

Then came the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel. Tents, loudspeakers and student protesters, some masked, some in kaffiyehs, soon followed at Texas universities.

So did the second thoughts.

Republicans in the Texas Legislature — including some who helped write the 2019 law — did an about-face earlier this month and approved a bill that would restrict how students can protest. The bill is awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature.

If he signs it, as expected, free speech advocates said Texas will enter new legal territory, just as Republicans across the country test the limits of their authority to tighten control over the culture on college campuses.

While states set many policies that affect how public universities are run, they have not typically tried to regulate student conduct with an act of law.

But the Texas bill would greatly expand the state’s influence over “expressive activities” on campus — which are defined to include what students wear, how much noise they make and the hours of the day when expression is allowed.