Universities must stop stifling free speech

Do you remember the first person to greet you when you went to college?  A Resident Assistant? Orientation guide? Whomever it was, chances are they were an employee of the student life office, an office on campuses ideally designed to enhance your outside-of-the-classroom college experience.

Every college or university has dedicated staff to this office to help with campus organizations, housing, events, and/or orientation. The mission is ideally well intentioned, but recent incidents have led me to question the actions of these offices.

{mosads}On May 3rd, Jeff Lyons wanted to distribute pocket-sized copies of the United States Constitution on his college campus at Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts. As an Army veteran, he takes his civil liberties very seriously and with a nation that is so divided, he thought it was time spread a message based upon Constitutional rights and principles.

When a campus security officer approached Jeff and his fellow Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) members, they did not take it lightly. “You need to move to the bridge,” the officer told the Bunker Hill students. Jeff and his friends continued to distribute copies of the Constitution and refused to let their right to free speech be stifled. The following week, the students received a formal notice from the University claiming that they violated the Code of Conduct.

As of Tuesday this week, both the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) have notified the college about their unconstitutional speech codes and ordered them to change the codes or expect litigation in their near future.

Unfortunately, Jeff is not the only student to face these unruly policies enforced by politicized administrators. At Los Angeles Pierce Community College District, YAL student Kevin Shaw was distributing pocket Constitutions to garner support for his club to become officially recognized by the University. Because Kevin was not inside of his University’s free speech area, he was asked to leave campus unless he obtained a permit from the administration.

Interestingly enough, the Los Angeles Pierce College publishes its free speech regulations on the back of the permit, but the only way to know a permit is by obtaining a permit in the first place at the student life office. A prime example of how out of touch, and dysfunctional these offices dedicated to enhancing the student experience have become.

Yet out of touch administrators are not a new fad sweeping college campuses. What has developed is the heightened malevolence from campus leaders towards the First Amendment.

At Kellogg Community College,  three YAL students were arrested for simply asking students questions that “rural students may not know how to say no to. . . because they grew up without Internet.” The students were asking Kellogg Community College students if they wanted a copy of the Constitution and if they liked liberty.

Administrators from the Student Life office at Kellogg Community College told the students that if they wanted to engage in this type of activity they would need permission from the college and would need to be inside the designated “free speech zone.” The students told the administration that they would not go to the free speech zone because Kellogg Community College is a public college, and therefore, the entire campus is a free speech zone.

Administrators then threatened students with arrest. The students stood their ground, unaffected by the threats. Students were then hauled off campus by multiple campus police officers and spent the night in jail. Since then, the students have filed a civil lawsuit in Federal Court.

These lawsuits are providing real results for free speech across college campuses, and Young Americans for Liberty is leading the fight by restoring rights to over 544,000 students nation wide.

This past fall Brittany Mirelez won her lawsuit against the Maricopa County Community College District, home to 250,000 students. Brittany was told by bureaucrats that she needed to obtain a permit before using the University’s designated free speech zone.

Not only was she told she had to be inside the free speech zone, but she had to first obtain permission from the university student life office to use the free speech zone.

A common trend in all of these instances of egregious behavior on the part of the public colleges, is the student life office. The once epicenter for guidance and assistance for students, this office has now become the ubiquitous roadblock for free speech on many campuses.

What we need is for the student life offices to remember their original, which is enhancing student’s campus experience and helping to provide innovative events on campus, and move away from a custodial obligation.

Universities are meant to be a bastion of free speech, where students engage in unfettered free expression on campus. This dangerous move towards a nanny-state on college campuses facilitated through student life offices does nothing but shield students from the real world and differing viewpoints that they will face post-graduation.

Cliff Maloney Jr. is the President at Young Americans for Liberty where he oversees YAL’s 50 state operation with over 900 YAL chapters nationwide. YAL’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and mobilize youth activists committed to winning on principle.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.