GREAT WIN FOR FREE SPEECH IN ONE OF AMERICA'S SOVIETS

In a major victory for liberty and equal rights on campus, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) has settled a free speech lawsuit. The case involved Cal Poly student Steve Hinkle, who was punished for posting a flier on a public bulletin board announcing a College Republicans-sponsored speech by a black social critic. Some students at the campus Multicultural Center found the flier "offensive." See the flier here. Cal Poly has agreed to expunge Hinkle's disciplinary record relating to the incident, to permit him to post fliers, and to pay significant attorney's fees. The settlement of the lawsuit ends a year-long campaign organized by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to restore the Bill of Rights and fundamental fairness to this public university. You can find out more about the history of the Hinkle case here.

"We are pleased that free speech has been upheld at Cal Poly, but we truly are stunned that this university fought so desperately to deny a student's most fundamental rights," said Alan Charles Kors, Chairman of FIRE. He added, "Cal Poly's example sends a warning to university administrators everywhere who deny rights and legal equality: You will fail in the court of public opinion; you will fail in the courts of law; and you will be held accountable by the citizens whose freedom you hold in contempt."

FIRE Legal Network attorney Carol Sobel filed the federal lawsuit against Cal Poly on September 25, 2003, in conjunction with the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), a nonprofit public interest law firm. The complaint asked the court to overturn Cal Poly's punishment of Steve Hinkle and to clear his record of any wrongdoing. Sobel and CIR also sought a ruling that Cal Poly's interpretation of "disruption"—which had been used to punish Hinkle's clearly protected speech—was unconstitutional.....

Under the settlement, Cal Poly agrees to clear the incident from Hinkle's disciplinary record and pledges not to interfere with Hinkle's right to post promotional fliers. Cal Poly also repudiates its overbroad definition of "disruption" and agrees that "disruption" actually must be willful and must "materially and substantially disrupt a University activity or the orderly operation of the University."

Curt Levey, CIR's director of legal and public affairs, explained the importance of the victory: "Thanks to the work of FIRE and CIR, it has become more difficult for schools to punish students for the ‘crime' of ‘offensive' speech." "However," he added, "this progress is endangered when schools attempt to use a charge of disruption as a pretext for censoring speech. Fortunately, Steve Hinkle's victory will serve to discourage such attempts at Cal Poly and beyond."

Greg Lukianoff, FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy, remarked, "The settlement brings an end to a bizarre and outrageous attempt to suppress free speech. Cal Poly's injustice has plagued an innocent student for the past year and a half." Lukianoff continued, "Unfortunately, the university's action comes too late for California taxpayers, who, in the midst of a serious fiscal crisis, must now foot the $40,000 bill for Cal Poly President Baker's contempt for the U.S. Constitution."

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