Hagerstown Community College officials denied student’s application, told her she can’t speak about club in open, outdoor area of campus
BALTIMORE – A Maryland college has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed in February after the college prohibited a student from forming a conservative club on campus. Officials at Hagerstown Community College then also stopped the student, Moriah DeMartino, from asking other students in an open, outdoor area of campus to sign a petition in favor of starting the club.
DeMartino filed the lawsuit DeMartino v. Cushwa with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in October of last year but later requested ADF attorneys to represent her in the suit. The lawsuit claimed the college unconstitutionally discriminated against DeMartino based on her viewpoint in denying the formation of her club and in requiring her to obtain permission from the school before engaging in protected free speech. As part of the settlement, the college has revised its policies so that officials will no longer be able to discriminate against students and student groups based upon their viewpoint.
“Public colleges are supposed to be a place where ideas are freely shared, not subject to the approval of government officials,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer. “The First Amendment is the only permission slip that a student needs to be able to engage in free speech, and this settlement reflects that. A college short-circuits its own purpose when it places its own restrictive speech rules above the freedoms that the First Amendment guarantees to students and all Americans.”
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1 comment:
Sue them NOW. don't hesitate.
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