Students sue, saying Dixie State violates free speech

Students sue, saying Dixie State violates free speech

By Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press

March 4th, 2015 @ 4:01pm

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Three Dixie State University students filed a lawsuit Wednesday saying that administrators at the southern Utah college violated their free speech rights by refusing to let them post fliers with satirical pictures of President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and the revolutionary leader Che Guevara.

The members of Young Americans for Liberty also say one of their events designed to celebrate free speech was wrongly relegated to a small, out-of-the-way part of the St. George-based campus. The lawsuit filed in federal court seeks damages and changes to rules the students call arbitrary.

"I don't think we have any other options," said plaintiff William Jergins, a 24-year-old senior studying political science, economics and math. "Things like we did, kind of poking fun at public figures, I don't think should be disallowed."

Dixie State officials declined to comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit is directed by the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The legal action is part of a nationwide series of lawsuits over free-speech issues on college campuses.

"The function of an education is the free exchange of ideas," said Catherine Sevcenko, a lawyer with the group. "You got there to sort of have your ideas tested."

The students_Jergins, Joey Gillespie and Forrest Gee_say in court documents that the public school requires students to get permission before posting things on campus. They asked to put up three fliers featuring the photos with satirical captions last October. But they say they were denied because the fliers violated school policy by mocking people.

Originally posted here:
Students sue, saying Dixie State violates free speech