Cal State Speech Victory

After an anti-terrorism rally earlier this year, where College Republicans at San Francisco State stepped on the flags of militant Islamic organizations, a student complained that the College Republicans had violated California State University’s policy against “actions of in incivility.”

This led to an investigation by university officials. Although the College Republicans were eventually exonerated, they filed a lawsuit in federal court asserting that the university policy has a chilling affect on freedom of expression.

Federal Magistrate Wayne Brazil agreed with the College Republicans and issued an injunction barring the university from enforcing the civility standard in any disciplinary proceeding: “It might be fine for the university to say, ‘Hey, we hope you folks are civil to one another.’ But it’s not fine for the university to say, ‘If you’re not civil, whatever that means, we’re going to punish you.'”

“The university is supposed to be the ‘marketplace of ideas,’ but these speech codes, with few exceptions, are selectively applied against Christian and conservative students. Knocking those codes down, however, benefits everyone who cherishes their First Amendment rights,” said Alliance Defense Fund Litigation Staff Counsel David Hacker, who represented the College Republicans. “Today thousands of students throughout the California State University system are more free to speak without fear of punishment by agents of the government.”

Karen England works for the Capitol Resource Institute in California. Reprinted with permission from CRI.