On college campuses, zoning out free speech

Monday, October 14, 2013

Robert Van Tuinens run-in with campus police would be a funny story if it werent such a disturbing example of how freedom of speech is under assault on many American college and university campuses.

As reported in The Daily Caller and elsewhere, Van Tuinen, a student at Modesto Junior College in California, was stopped from handing out copies of the Constitution on Sept. 17 the 226th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.

College officials informed Van Tuinen that he could get permission to distribute the Constitution, but only if he pre-registered for time in the free speech zone a tiny concrete slab big enough for two people.

Looking over the calendar, an administrator told Van Tuinen that she has two people on campus right now, so youd have to wait until either the 20th, 27th, or you can go into October.

Its hard to know whether to laugh or cry.

Virtually everything about the Modesto Junior College free speech policy is wrongheaded and unconstitutional.

As Robert Shibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) explains, the college sent police to enforce an unconstitutional rule, said that students could not freely distribute literature, placed a waiting period on free speech, produced an artificial scarcity of room for free speech with a tiny free speech area, and limited the number of speakers on campus to two at a time.

Outrageous, yes, but sadly all too common: According to research conducted by FIRE, a sixth of the nations 400 top colleges and universities currently have free speech zones, Orwellian doublespeak for restricted speech zones. (To find a campus free speech zone near you, visit thefire.org.)

When challenged, colleges sometimes back down or lose in court. In 2012, for example, a federal judge ruled that the University of Cincinnatis free speech zone violated the First Amendment. But many policies limiting free speech on campus remain in force as instruments for chilling and limiting freedom of expression at scores of schools nationwide.

Originally posted here:
On college campuses, zoning out free speech