Do you ever wish that someone would give college students a copy of the U.S. Constitution?
Three students were trying to do just that at Kellogg Community College in Michigan when the school had them arrested.
According to Campus Reform, Shelly Gregoire, Nathan Berning and Isaac Edikauskas--a student and two conservative activists--were handing out pocket constitutions on behalf of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) to students when the KCC back in January. The manager of Student Life, Drew Hutchinson, asked them to stop because they might "obstruct the student's ability to get an education."
The three explained that they weren't obstructing anyone and were only talking to students interested in getting a constitution. They were literally asking passersby, "Do you like freedom and liberty?" and if they responded, offered them a pocket constitution.
But this was still too much for school administrators who insisted the three were in violation of the school's draconian solicitation policies. They called the Kalamazoo police and the Chief of Police himself came to arrest the activists for trespassing.
Now, Brandon Withers, a member of the YAL chapter at KCC who was with the activists that afternoon, is suing the college. A press release from his lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom says:
The problem is that KCC’s speech policy, what they call a “Solicitation Policy,” regulates a wide variety of student expression. Things such as leafleting, assemblies, speeches, and circulating petitions are all greatly restricted, but they also happen to be protected by the First Amendment.
Perhaps the activists should have handed school administrators a constitution because they obviously need to read up on the First Amendment.
Last week, Kellogg Community College is complaining that they are being unnecessarily "vilified" by the law suit. Eric Greene, the College's spokesman, defended the school's policy in a press release on June 22:
This case is not about free speech or viewpoint discrimination. We have felt from day one of this unnecessary lawsuit that the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and that the College’s Solicitation Policy is constitutional and appropriate in its scope.
And, of course, the school is perfectly free to express their viewpoint. That's why the First Amendment is such a beautiful thing.
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