To attend some schools, such as Blinn College near Houston, students have to sacrifice some of their constitutional rights before they step on campus.
Blinn College student Nicole Sanders is suing the school, claiming her First Amendment rights were violated when her political speech was restricted to a tiny “Free Speech Area.”
“I realized it was the only way to get rid of the free speech zones, or to change any policies,” Sanders told Red Alert Politics.
Back in February, Sanders was trying to recruit members to start a Young Americans for Liberty chapter on her campus. She brought a sign that said, “LOL” with the “O” replaced with the Obama campaign logo, and another sign reading, “Defend gun rights on campus.”
The Houston Chronicle reports that Sanders was approached by a school administrator and three armed campus police officers who informed her that she would need “special permission” to display her signs on campus, and later told her she had to stay within a designated free speech zone.
Blinn College’s “Free Speech Area” is an approximately 190-square-foot concrete corner outside the student center, about the size of a parking space, according to the lawsuit Sanders filed on Wednesday, along with the national Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
Blinn is not the only school with such a policy. FIRE estimates that roughly one in six of the nation’s top 400 colleges enforce similar free speech zones. The foundation is backing Sanders in this case as part of its Stand Up for Speech Litigation Project, a national effort to take legal action against public colleges that have policies censoring free speech. FIRE also provides attorneys to represent students in their cases.
“I’m hoping that all of the college will become a free speech zone,” Sanders said. “I’m hoping that students will be able to engage with other students on politics without having to seek permission.”
