Lawsuits seem to be an effective way of getting schools to abandon policies that hinder free speech.
The Daily Caller reports:
UMass-Amherst Spikes Speech Zone Policy After Getting SuedThe University of Massachusetts Amherst spiked a speech zone policy that limited “speeches and rallies” to a one-hour block in a space comprising less than one percent of the campus.Christian nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) dropped its lawsuit against the school Monday after UMass-Amherst voted to approve a new policy on June 20, according to a press release.“The only permission slip students need to speak on campus is the First Amendment. UMass-Amherst made the right move by eliminating this unconstitutional limit on student speech,” ADF Legal Counsel Caleb Dalton said in a statement. “A public university is hardly the marketplace of ideas it’s supposed to be when less than one percent of campus is open for only one hour a day. We commend [Young Americans for Liberty (YAL)] and these brave students for taking a stand and causing UMass to remove this speech zone that never should have existed in the first place.”ADF sued the school in January on behalf of YAL and UMass-Amherst student Nicholas Consolini. The plaintiffs contested that the school’s campus speech policy was unconstitutional, citing its failure to define what constituted a “speech” or “rally,” as well as its allowance for sanctions including expulsion should students violate it.
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