Great news for those of us who believe in free speech on college campuses, where, unfortunately, speech is too often marginalized. Today’s good news comes from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which is helping a Modesto Junior College student fight the college’s ridiculous action of forcing him to stop passing out the Constitution — on Constitution Day.
A joint stipulation filed in federal district court yesterday by MJC and attorneys for student Robert Van Tuinen states that the parties have agreed on several significant revisions to the college’s “free speech policies and procedures,” pending final approval by the Yosemite Community College District, expected this spring. “FIRE welcomes this development as a sign that Modesto Junior College is making important progress towards bringing its policies in line with the First Amendment,” said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. “Today, Robert Van Tuinen and over 17,000 fellow students and faculty members may exercise their First Amendment rights without being confined to a free speech zone or required to register in advance.”
MJC made national news by preventing Van Tuinen from handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution in an area by the student center on September 17, the anniversary of the U.S. Constitution’s signing. As captured in a video taken by Van Tuinen, a campus police officer informed him that he could not pass out any materials without first registering with the student development office. Van Tuinen then spoke with an MJC administrator, who told him that he could only pass out literature inside the “free speech area,” which she informed him was “in front of the student center, in that little cement area.”
Remember, this happened on a college campus — a supposed marketplace of ideas where discussion of ideas and critical thinking are supposedly cherished.
Truly scary.
