NY College Reverses Course, Allows Pro-life Free Speech

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NY College Reverses Course, Allows Pro-life Free Speech

BROOKLYN, New York, March 24, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A student told by administration officials that he could not distribute a pro-life newsletter on the campus of Kingsborough Community College now has permission to do so as a result of a letter sent to the school by the Alliance Defense Fund.

Last September, student Joseph Hayon was distributing copies of a pro-life newsletter to passersby outside the KCC cafeteria. A campus security officer then approached Hayon to tell him that he could not “give out fliers on campus” because they lacked an official stamp from the Office of Student Life (OSL).

However, no school policy even discusses students distributing literature on campus.

Hayon consulted a member of the OSL, who told him that he only needed a stamp to hang posters. When Hayon related this to the security officer, the officer threatened to escort him off campus if he distributed the pro-life fliers.

After speaking with several campus officials, Hayon was eventually told that he could distribute pro-life literature, but with restrictions that made getting out his message onerous. Officials allowed him to have a table on campus to distribute his literature; however, he would have to wait eight days to receive the table, he then could only use it for four hours at a time, and he could not directly hand the flyers to those who passed by.

ADF attorneys intervened in the case and on March 11 wrote KCC a letter that informed them they were violating First Amendment rights recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the letter sent March 11, ADF attorneys wrote, “To date, KCC has identified no interests that would support its restrictions on Mr. Hayon’s leafleting, particularly since courts readily recognize that peaceful leafleting poses little (if any) risk of disruption. One OSL official indicated that he could not distribute literature because it might ‘offend people.’”

“Yet the Supreme Court,” ADF wrote, “could not be clearer on this point:  the First Amendment exists to protect offensive speech, and KCC simply cannot silence speech because some people find it offensive. Indeed, this is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment.”

In its response, dated March 16, counsel for KCC said the college would allow Hayon to pass out his fliers freely, without the restrictions it previously imposed.

“Pro-life students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Travis Barham. “In this case, campus security officers and several administrators tried to stop a student from passing out pro-life fliers even though no campus policy prohibited him from doing so. We commend the college for quickly rectifying this situation and affirming our client’s rights protected by the First Amendment.”