On some college campuses, students and outsiders are allowed to protest and distribute flyers only in so-called “free speech zones.” Supporters say it’s a way to protect against disruptions to school operations, but opponents call it censorship.
The debate is headed to a federal court in California, where a student on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles Pierce College’s “free speech area.”
Kevin Shaw, 27, says the community college violated his First Amendment rights in November when he was barred from passing out copies of the U.S. Constitution because he wasn’t in the free speech zone – an outdoor area roughly the size of three parking spaces – and because he hadn’t applied to use it.
Calls to the college and to the Los Angeles Community College District, which oversees Pierce, were not immediately returned.
The lawsuit is part of national campaign by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia free speech group whose lawyers are offering to help students fight similar policies at other colleges across the country.