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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Student Files 1st Amendment Lawsuit After Being Told She Needs 'Special
Permission' to Defend 2nd Amendment
By Kathleen Brown | May 28, 2015 | 4:56 PM EDT
(CNSNews.com) -- Blinn College student Nicole Sanders has filed a First
Amendment lawsuit against her college after being told by administrators
that she needed “special permission” to defend the Second Amendment.
Sanders held a handwritten sign that read “Defend Gun Rights on Campus”
while collecting sign-ups for her new chapter of Young Americans for Liberty
(YAL), a registered student organization, outside the Student Center at the
Brenham, Texas campus in February.
She was joined by another student activist who held a sign that said: “LOL
” -- with the Obama logo replacing the “O.”
According to the lawsuit, which was filed on May 20, defendant Erikah Brown,
coordinator of student clubs and activities, gave Sanders permission to
recruit students outside the Student Center a week prior to the event as
long as a table would not be used.
But on the day of the recruiting event, Student Center coordinator Sheri
Rich, who is also listed as a defendant, approached the students with “
three uniformed, armed campus police officers,” according to the lawsuit.
Rich told Sanders that she could not hold the signs and collect signatures
without “special permission.” A video of the incident was posted on Campus
Reform.
Later, when Sanders asked then-dean of students Mordecai Brownlee what
school policies she had violated, Brownlee told her that she did not submit
an “official event request” form, according to the lawsuit.
Blinn College requires that all written materials for distribution and
discussion by student groups be approved by administrators. The school also
requires that a request form be submitted prior to any event held on or off
campus, and that a report form be submitted afterwards.
Student events that don’t undergo the approval process are limited to a “
Free Speech Zone” - “an approximately 190-square-foot concrete corner
outside the Blinn College Student Center” on the 62-acre campus, the
lawsuit states.
Instead of directing Sanders to the “Free Speech Zone,” Rich told her she
doubted that Sanders could receive the necessary “special permission” to
hold her signs and recruit students in any location on campus.
“I don’t know that you can get special permission.” Rich said, claiming
the public college is “private.” She also told the students: “I’m not
against guns...but on campus, I’m not so sure.”
Sanders is suing the college on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds over
its “excessive restrictions on the rights of students and student
organizations,” the lawsuit states. “Blinn College’s policies
unconstitutionally prohibit students from engaging in spontaneous expression
due to the requirements to seek permission before speaking.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit
educational foundation for the defense of individual rights in higher
education, assisted Sanders in filing her lawsuit as part of its Stand Up
for Speech Litigation Project.
FIRE takes issue with Blinn’s “Free Speech Zone,” associate director of
litigation Catherine Sevcenko explained.
“One out of six colleges that FIRE surveys every year restrict speech to
tiny areas of campus, which they ironically call ‘free speech zones’,”
Sevcenko told CNSNews.com.
“This case is yet another example of college administrators trying to
quarantine the First Amendment. Blinn’s ‘Free Speech Zone’ comprises less
than .007 percent of campus—about the size of a parking spot. But on a
public college campus, students have every right to express and advocate for
ideas in open spaces.”
The lawsuit also claims that four other students witnessed Professor Doug
Peck warning Sanders to “think really hard” before “bringing some
organization to campus” that would “cause havoc,” and saying that he
would “protect me and mine” from any legal accusations.
Despite opposition from Blinn College faculty and staff, Sanders told
CNSNews.com: “I didn’t let it stop me.”
“I think it’s important to let people know that these colleges and
universities...are supposed to be the marketplace for ideas and thoughts and
opinions...To be able to challenge people’s views--it’s important on a
campus,” she continued.
“When a lot of students probably wouldn’t want to go through all the
trouble of a lawsuit,” she added, “what it comes down to is...students
standing up for what they believe in, and wanting to make a difference.”
Sevcenko also discussed FIRE’s role in other cases within its Stand Up for
Speech Litigation Program.
“We have been involved in a total of ten lawsuits under this project and
will continue to support students and faculty who want to defend their First
Amendment rights until schools throughout Texas, the Fifth Circuit, and
ultimately the nation learn that failing to respect the First Amendment
carries a price,” she told CNSNews.com.
“Our aim is nothing short of the total elimination of unconstitutional
speech codes at public colleges and universities.”
A Blinn College spokesperson would not comment directly on the lawsuit, but
told CNSNews.com in an e-mail: “In light of the lawsuit that has been filed
, we certainly will take this opportunity to evaluate our policies as they
are written and as they are applied by faculty and staff who work on campus
and interact with students.” |
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