Students affiliated with a campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom filed a lawsuit against their educational institution.
This lawsuit comes on the grounds that the college allegedly engaged in discriminatory behavior toward the conservative organization posting and distributing leaflets.
Students from a campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom sued California’s Clovis Community College earlier this week, alleging that college leaders violated the First Amendment by ordering the removal of flyers that had previously been approved. https://t.co/SvJ1q3Iqud
— ☢️🇺🇸Will🇺🇸☢️ (@notBilly) August 14, 2022
First Amendment
On Thursday, three student leaders of YAF lodged a suit in federal court in California, charging that administrators at Clovis Community College infringed on their rights under the First Amendment.
They did this by ordering the withdrawal of flyers that encouraged the right-leaning national organization’s Freedom Week in November 2021.
In a release, the Chairman of the Clovis YAF chapter, Alejandro Flores, stated the purpose of the action was to guarantee that every person has the right to free speech.
It is no longer free speech when authorities decide for what kind of speech is appropriate to tolerate.
The court grievance also alleged that college administrators violated the students’ freedom of expression right in December 2021.
This is when the college tried to deny the students permission to hang anti-abortion posters on campus notice boards, but instead told them to put up their display at the “free speech kiosk” that had been approved.
Clovis Community College officials are named as accused persons in the lawsuit that was brought forward by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Financial Compensation
Governor Scott Walker, head of the Young America’s Foundation, stated freedom of speech is being suppressed on college campuses all over the country. The recent inappropriate action taken by administrators at Clovis Community College is another disheartening example of this trend.
He went on to say the administration of the school breached the First Amendment by suppressing and censoring the rights to free speech of students who held conservative viewpoints.
The Young America’s Foundation is pleased to be working alongside FIRE on this important case. It sends a message to colleges all throughout the country that conservative students will not be intimidated into silence and acquiescence.
The school also denied permission for the Young Americans for Freedom students to post anti-abortion fliers, according to the complaint.https://t.co/zHwSHYTLLi
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) August 12, 2022
Following the submission of complaints, a Clovis administrator is shown in emails obtained by FIRE (after they made a request for public records) pledging to “gladly” delete the flyers.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages for the expenses incurred from creating the flyers. It also pushes for punitive damages against the officials of Clovis Community College for their knowing and willful violation of the constitutional protections of the students.
A request has also been made for an injunction that will deter the institution from enforcing a restriction regarding club flyers.
Flores claimed Clovis made an effort to stifle their ideas by erecting roadblocks because the administration did not approve of them.
Though a college shouldn’t operate that way at all, just the contrary. The conversation should not be shut down, but rather encouraged for the students at their college so they can further develop their ideas.
This article appeared in The Political Globe and has been published here with permission.
