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Federal Court Orders San Francisco State University, California State University System Not to Enforce Unconstitutional Speech Codes
SAN FRANCISCO, November 8, 2007鈥擨n a crucial victory for free speech, a federal judge has ordered San Francisco State University (SFSU) and the California State University System (CSU) to stop enforcing several unconstitutional speech codes. The codes were challenged in a lawsuit filed by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in cooperation with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (果冻传媒app官方).
鈥淭his decision is a vital step in the fight against unconstitutional campus speech codes,鈥 FIREPresident Greg Lukianoff said. 鈥淭he court鈥檚 decision frees hundreds of thousands of students throughout the CSU System from unlawful restrictions on their expression.鈥
The lawsuit鈥攂rought by the SFSU College Republicans and two of the group鈥檚 members鈥攃ame after the SFSU College Republicans were put on trial by a campus tribunal for stepping on makeshift Hamas and Hezbollah flags as part of an anti-terrorism rally they held in October 2006. Despite having the power to dismiss the charges at any time, SFSU dragged the plaintiffs through a five-month investigation and hearing before ultimately clearing the group of baseless 鈥渉arassment鈥 charges. The plaintiffs鈥 lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, asks the court to hold SFSU accountable for unlawfully mistreating the plaintiffs on the basis of their constitutionally protected expression and to strike down several unconstitutional speech codes at SFSU and in the CSU System.
Last Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne Brazil鈥攚ho described himself at the hearing as a 鈥渇riend of the First Amendment鈥濃攊ssued a preliminary injunction prohibiting SFSU and the CSU System from enforcing several of the policies challenged in the lawsuit: a vague SFSU policy requiring students to act in accordance with SFSU 鈥済oals, principles, and policies鈥 and a CSU System-wide policy requiring students 鈥渢o be civil to one another.鈥 Judge Brazil also limited the CSU System鈥檚 ability to enforce a policy prohibiting 鈥渋ntimidation鈥 and 鈥渉arassment,鈥 holding that the policy could only be applied to conduct that 鈥渞easonably is concluded to threaten or endanger the health or safety of any other person.鈥
ADF attorney David Hacker argued the motion for preliminary injunction before Judge Brazil. 鈥淭his decision sends a clear message to administrators in California and nationwide that they are not above the Constitution,鈥 Hacker said.
FIRE鈥檚 Speech Codes Litigation Project鈥攁n initiative working to dismantle unconstitutional speech codes on public university campuses鈥攈as won crucial victories at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, Texas Tech University, the State University of New York at Brockport, California鈥檚 Citrus College, and now at San Francisco State University and the California State University System.
鈥湽炒絘pp官方鈥檚 Speech Codes Litigation Project has ended virtually every code it has challenged,鈥 Lukianoff said. 鈥淎t public universities, these vague and overbroad speech codes are unconstitutional, period. Courts have held this again and again, yet somehow the scandal of campus speech codes continues. FIREwill keep fighting until unconstitutional speech restrictions in higher education have ended once and for all.鈥
FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation鈥檚 colleges and universities. 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 efforts to preserve liberty on campuses across America can be viewed at www.thefire.org.
CONTACT:
Greg Lukianoff, President, 果冻传媒app官方: 215-717-3473; greg_lukianoff@thefire.org
Robert A. Corrigan, President, SFSU: 415-338-1381; president@sfsu.edu
Charles B. Reed, Chancellor, The California State University: 562-951-4700; creed
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