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U. Alabama Huntsville Sued for Violating Recently Implemented Free Speech Law

U. Alabama Huntsville Sued for Violating Recently Implemented Free Speech Law

“for violating the free-speech rights of student activists and for breaking a 2019 state law and the free-speech protections of the state constitution”

We need more legal action like this. Make colleges and universities feel pain for not protecting free speech.

The College Fix reports:

Alabama university sued for violating recently implemented free speech law

Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a lawsuit against the University of Alabama in Huntsville for violating the free-speech rights of student activists and for breaking a 2019 state law and the free-speech protections of the state constitution.

The conservative legal nonprofit filed the state lawsuit on behalf of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter in response to a university policy that requires three days preapproval to assemble on campus.

It’s the second lawsuit filed this year against a University of Alabama university — in May, ADF also sued the University of Alabama in Birmingham for similar policies.

While the university has a policy on spontaneous expression, “limits such speech to ‘defined areas’ (i.e., speech zones) that make up a very small portion of the campus,” the lawsuit said.

“The Court should therefore strike down the University’s prior approval requirement,” ADF said. It should also strike down “the spontaneous speech exception, and related speech zones, and enjoin the University from enforcing these restrictions against Plaintiffs.”

YAL president Joshua Greer is the president of YAL and a junior at the public university.

He and his group “desire to express their message on the University campus through a variety of means,” the attorneys said. This includes distributing information, passing out signs and setting up tables on campus to talk to students about a variety of issues and recruit for their group.

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Comments

While the university has a policy on spontaneous expression, “limits such speech to ‘defined areas’ (i.e., speech zones) that make up a very small portion of the campus,”

It’s not really “spontaneous” if you have to go to a specific area.