Student Rights Group Begins Litigating ‘Free Speech Zones’
3rd April 2017
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, helped Los Angeles Pierce College student Kevin Shaw file a lawsuit after he was told he could hand out U.S. Constitutions only in a tiny sector of campus. FIRE calculated the size of the free speech zone at Pierce College to be equivalent to an iPhone on a tennis court.
Last November, Shaw tried to pass out Spanish-language versions of the Constitution in an attempt to recruit new members for Young Americans for Liberty, a right-leaning student organization. As he was doing so, an administrator told him he could not hand out literature outside of the campus free speech zone—and that if he wanted to do it there, he would have to fill out a permit. He was also told he would be kicked off campus if he did not comply.