An appeals court has affirmed the speech rights of students at Clovis Community College, striking down a flyer policy that discriminated against conservatives.
WND had reported when the students won their initial battle with the California school.
There, Clovis Community College had imposed an unconstitutional speech code “that resulted in the suppression of conservative students’ viewpoints.” It was that agenda that was struck down by a federal judge, who ruled for three students from a chapter of Young Americans for Freedom who wanted to criticize authoritarianism on campus.
They did this by putting up posters listing the death tolls from communist regimes, which the school ordered taken down.
Judge Jennifer Thurston said, however, that the First Amendment doesn’t allow administrators to regulate the content of student speech by claiming that once students post a flyer, it suddenly “becomes” the college’s speech.
The court warned “a government entity cannot avoid constitutional requirements merely by declaring it can do so.”