My College Claims to be a Place Where Everyone Thrives. Then it Silenced Me. Here’s My Story

[mountaineer]

My College Claims to be a Place Where Everyone Thrives. Then it Silenced Me. Here’s My Story
By Alliance Defending Freedom
 Posted on: | April 27, 2016
By Hannalee, North Carolina State University senior

My name is Hannalee, and I am a senior at North Carolina State University. Three years ago, I decided to pursue my education at NC State because it felt like home. The brick campus is huge, and there are over 34,000 students walking around daily, but I love being around people, and I was excited about the potluck of cultures and passions at NC State. Other colleges had excellent teaching programs, but they didn’t feel like family. I knew as soon as I walked onto campus at NC State, that this was the place I wanted to be.

NC State has over 600 organizations. And students are creating new ones each year. The college prides itself on being a place where everybody can thrive—something I loved about it right away.

I am a Christian, and I was looking for a club where I could be with like-minded classmates who were passionate about our faith and sharing it with others. Today, I have the privilege to serve as president of Grace Christian Life, a student group on campus whose mission is to give people a full picture of who Jesus Christ is. Our love for Jesus Christ inspires us to serve our classmates, our families, and our communities through activities such as Service Raleigh, providing food and clothing for the homeless, and assisting other local families in need. This year we branched out into two new ventures. We partnered with Samaritan’s Purse, an international poverty alleviation organization, and with the IronDog race in our area, which is a 5K to raise money for pet owners who cannot afford medical care for their animals. We had such a great time serving our community this year!

And, if they are interested, we also love sharing our faith with our fellow classmates. Spiritual conversations strike at the very heart of what it means to be human, and there is no better place to have those kinds of conversations than on a university campus—the ultimate marketplace of ideas where we, as learners, are seeking knowledge and truth to take with us once we leave.

One day, however, the university stopped members of our group and told us that we must apply for a permit before speaking. Because our thoughts and ideas might possibly offend someone, even though we never pushed them on anyone, NC State decided that we didn’t have the freedom to share what we believed with people who wanted to learn about it. So now, on this campus that claims to be a place where everyone thrives, we were silenced.

This policy at North Carolina State University is wrong. No college student needs a permit to talk to their classmates on campus. The only permit we need is the First Amendment of the Constitution. Speech isn’t free if you have to ask permission! So I, and Grace Christian Life, are doing something we never dreamed we’d do: we’re suing the college we love, because we don’t want to see that college destroy itself by stifling the very diversity and freedom that gives it life.

A college campus, of all places, is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas. The survival of that marketplace depends on free, vigorous, and often spontaneous speech carried out through the spoken word, fliers, signs, and displays, unrestricted by arbitrary speech restrictions. Free speech on campus should be a no-brainer.

Ultimately, I chose to attend NC State because it felt like home. Home is a safe place—not a place that insulates and protects you from reality, but a place where you know that you can express yourself, disagree, and still be loved. It is a place you can be honest and open.

I came to NC State to learn to be a teacher, because I want to give a voice to my future students to share their own ideas with the world. I want to become a teacher because I am called to show people that they are valuable, that their ideas and thoughts are valuable. I want to inspire the next generation to love truth, and instill values that will benefit both their lives as individuals and the world they are entering to serve. They need to know that they have value, and that their thoughts and opinions have value. But it’s not enough for them to simply know this. They also need to know that they have the freedom to share those thoughts and ideas with the world. They need to know that everyone has the freedom to speak, and live, according to their deepest convictions. I am honored to stand with Grace Christian Life. Free speech is something we should never take for granted, and I am hopeful that my school will do the right thing and ensure liberty for all NC State students, both now and in the future.

[mountaineer]

Student group sues NC State for requiring permits for any, all speech
University selectively enforces policy that requires permit for any kind of communication on campus
 ADF
Apr 26, 2016

RALEIGH, N.C. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Christian student group at North Carolina State University filed a federal lawsuit against school officials Tuesday over its policy requiring a permit for any kind of student speech or communication anywhere on campus. The university only selectively enforces the policy and did so against Grace Christian Life, a registered student organization, when officials told members of the group that they needed a permit to speak with other students in the student union.

“Public universities are supposed to be the marketplace of ideas, not places where students need a permit just to exercise their constitutionally protected freedoms. The only permit needed to engage in free speech is the First Amendment,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer.

In September 2015, NC State officials informed students with Grace Christian Life that, without a permit, they must stop approaching other students in the Talley Student Union to engage in religious discussions with them or invite them to attend Grace Christian Life events.

The group obtained a permit to set up a table in the student union in January and were told at the time the permit was issued that they could speak with other students from behind the table or anywhere in the room; however, when they left the table on the permitted date, a member of the Student Involvement Office approached them and told them they must stay behind the table.

As the lawsuit explains, the university has not placed the same restriction on anyone else. In fact, Grace Christian Life members observed and documented numerous other groups freely speaking with other students and handing out literature either without a permit or outside of the area reserved by their table permit—sometimes in full view of the same officials that stopped Grace Christian Life from doing the same.

The university regulates student oral, written, and graphic speech through University Regulation 07.25.12, a policy that requires a permit for any form of commercial or non-commercial speech, which the policy broadly defines as “any distribution of leaflets, brochures, or other written material, or oral speech to a passersby (sic)….” The policy specifies that any person “wishing to conduct any form of solicitation on University premises must have the written permission of the Student Involvement [Office] in advance.” Depending on the location of the proposed activity, the speaker may also have to obtain the permission of the administrator responsible for the facility or location where the activity is to be held.

“The courts have well established that a public university can’t require permits in this manner for this kind of speech—and certainly can’t enforce such rules selectively,” explained ADF Senior Counsel David Hacker. “Unconstitutional censorship is bad enough, but giving university officials complete discretion to decide when and where to engage in silencing students makes the violation even worse. That’s why we are asking the court to invalidate the university’s policy and allow members of Grace Christian Life to engage in the speech that the First Amendment says they can, free from unconstitutional restrictions.”  ...

[Suppressed]

She needs to contact FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education):  https://www.thefire.org/