Student sues Georgia college, but for a reason that you might agree with

01 Jan, 2017 by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

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Free speech on college campuses is being severely curtailed and suppressed. It should not be allowed. Free speech is guaranteed under the Constitution, even on wacky leftist campuses. Chike Uzuegbunam is a Christian student at Georgia Gwinnett College. They have instituted two small ‘free speech zones’ on campus and you must submit a ‘free speech area request’ three days ahead of time, plus your materials and literature have to be reviewed and approved by officials before you can even use one of these crappy zones.

Chike says his freedom of religion is being violated because his preaching on campus has been restricted. I agree and it just should not be happening. This is just one campus… this crap is happening all across the nation. These free speech zones are anything but… they are speech suppression zones and it is fascist. If this is a university that takes federal money, they are in direct violation of the Constitution and should be nailed for it. Chike is suing the college and I don’t blame him.

From Fox News:

A Christian student is suing a college in Georgia for allegedly violating his free speech rights by severely limiting his preaching on campus.

Chike Uzuegbunam filed a complaint on Monday against officials with Georgia Gwinnett College in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division.

In the complaint, Uzuegbunam took issue with GGC’s “Freedom of Expression Policy,” which the suit says “restricts all types of student speech to two small speech zones that occupy less than 0.0015 percent of campus.”

“To use these speech zones, students must submit a ‘free speech area request’ form three days in advance and submit any publicity materials and literature they want to distribute to administrators for review,” read the suit.

“If students want to speak — whether through oral or written communication — anywhere else on campus, then they must obtain a permit from college officials. Thus, students may not speak spontaneously anywhere on campus. If students violate this policy, they … expose themselves to a variety of sanctions, including expulsion.”

Uzuegbunam is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The college of course has no comment on the legal matter, which doesn’t surprise me. “Every public school — and especially a state college that is supposed to be the ‘marketplace of ideas’ — has the duty to protect and promote those freedoms,” said Barham. “Students don’t check their constitutionally protected free speech at the campus gate. While touting commitments to ‘diversity’ and ‘open communications,’ Georgia Gwinnett College confines the speech of students to two ridiculously small speech zones and then censors the speech that occurs in those areas.”

This isn’t the first time that students have filed objections to the speech policies of GGC. It also happened in 2012. The nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released a memorandum outlining their issues with the school’s policies that year as well. “As a public college, Georgia Gwinnett College is legally bound by the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. Protecting students’ right to free speech is essential to the ability of GGC to fulfill its mission as a quintessential ‘marketplace of ideas,'” stated FIRE. “Yet in contravention of these principles, GGC currently maintains seven policies restricting students’ expressive rights in violation of the First Amendment.”

The policies that were objected to include the limited free speech zone at the center of the ADF suit, a “verbal abuse” ban, a “dignity and respect” mandate, a housing policy on “Acts of Intolerance” and three other harassment policies FIRE labeled “problematic.” I would hope that other students join Uzuegbunam in this lawsuit. This college needs a severe reality adjustment and about the only way to do that these days is in court.