Clovis Community College, located in Fresno, California, was fined $330,000 by a federal court that also ordered the school to stop enforcing a campus policy that prohibits free speech.
Double standard stopped in CO thanks to FIREChris Woodward, AFN.net Right-leaning political statements are no longer banned in the Colorado State Capitol thanks to a conservative activist and the threat of a First Amendment lawsuit. Jeff Hunt, a Denver radio host, was told to remove a pro-life sweatshirt that read “Pro-life U” when he visited the capitol to sit in the gallery in May. Legislators were debating a bill to regulate pro-life pregnancy centers so Hunt was attending the session to oppose the legislation. Hunt was aware, however, that a group of students were allowed to wear t-shirts demanding stricter gun laws just weeks before he was punished. FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights And Expression, demanded the Capitol change its policy or face a lawsuit for its obvious double standard. Gallery signage about prohibiting political apparel was removed this week. FIRE attorney Josh Bleisch tells AFN the issue was not just about a pro-life t-shirt but equal rights and the freedom of expression. “Jeff can wear his ‘Pro-Life U’ shirt but anybody can wear a rainbow flag pin, or an ACLU shirt, or an NRA t-shirt, or whatever the issue might be," said Bleisch. "Those things are now going to be allowed because the First Amendment protects our ability to silently express ourselves in that way." |
The court order was announced by FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which sued in 2022 on behalf of three students (pictured above) who are members of the Young America’s Foundation.
The students were identified by FIRE as YAF officers Alejandro Flores, Juliette Colunga, and Daniel Flores.
The students posted anti-Communist flyers that were removed and wanted to post pro-lifer flyers that were rejected by the community college.
FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner tells AFN the school wrongly believed the flyers were “school speech” because they were pinned on a bulletin board, which meant they could be removed for violating a campus policy that prohibits “inappropriate or offensive” flyers.
“And that's flatly contradicted by the law,” he says.
FIRE’s flyer lawsuit was repeatedly upheld as it moved through the federal courts in famously liberal California. A court injunction in 2022 prohibited Clovis from enforcing the policy while the lawsuit was pending, and an appeals court upheld the injunction in a ruling one year ago.
"They kept fighting all the way up to the 9th Circuit,” Ortner recalls, “on a really frivolous deal.”
The court ruling last week makes that injunction permanent. It also requires Clovis and the State Center Community College District to adopt a new flyer policy and to hold and document annual First Amendment training sessions for college staff.
“We won. We showed the school they were wrong,” Alejandro Flores said in a statement provided by FIRE.
“FIRE had our back at every step throughout the process,” the student said. “If you think your speech is being stifled, don’t stay quiet, because when you stay quiet, nothing changes.”
The court order, which included paying $250,000 in attorney's fees, also ordered Clovis to pay the three students $20,000 each as part of the settlement.
