{"id":37805,"date":"2013-07-11T09:34:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=37805"},"modified":"2013-07-11T09:46:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:46:54","slug":"my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/","title":{"rendered":"My fight for free speech at LSU"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I decided in seventh grade that one day I was going to attend Louisiana State University\u2019s law school, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I\u2019ve bled purple and gold ever since. So when I finally got there last fall, I never expected that in a few short months I would be involved in a lawsuit against the school.<\/p>\n

It started in September, when I was gearing up for the 2012 Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity<\/a>, which I\u2019ve participated in for five years now. As part of the silent protest, participants hand out small cards explaining our silence and listing fetal development facts. I had never had any issues with this before, but LSU was different – it had Free Speech Alley<\/a>. I had spoken to some of my friends who attend the undergraduate campus, and the general consensus was that students were allowed to pass out materials only in Free Speech Alley.<\/p>\n

This concerned me, and I wanted to verify it, so I looked up the policy: \u201cDistribution of Printed Material on Campus,\u201d on page 28 of the Student Organization Policy Handbook, which listed the office in charge, strangely, as the Finance and Administration Office. I called and spoke to the assistant to our vice chancellor and chief financial officer. I gave her the details of my event, \u201cPro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity,\u201d and told her I was concerned with where I was allowed to pass out my small informational flyers.<\/p>\n

She asked me if I was doing this event with a student organization, and told her I was participating on my own, and I was told that I still had to follow the same rules as a student organization.<\/p>\n

\"

LSU\u2019s Free Speech Alley.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was then told that those policies dictated that I could pass out the flyers only if I was in the area known as \u201cFree Speech Alley,\u201d which is a small stretch (about 24 yards) of sidewalk near the LSU Student Union. Also, if I wanted to pass flyers out in Free Speech Alley, I would need to register my event with Campus Life (pg. 19 of Student Org. Policy Manual), as Free Speech Alley has limited space available each day. When I asked if there was an exception if someone asked for one of my flyers, I was told that in that circumstance, I could hand it to him – but only if he asked. I then confirmed all this in a separate phone call with the coordinator for the LSU Finance and Administrative Services office.<\/p>\n

The summer before I came to LSU, I was privileged to have attended ADF\u2019s initial Collegiate Academy<\/a>, where I was first introduced to their Speak Up<\/a> program that provides university students with resources and legal help with unconstitutional, restrictive speech codes on their campuses. With this in mind, I decided to contact attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>, who advised me that this was an unconstitutional violation of my First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

The big decision came next – should I file a lawsuit? On one hand, I would be standing up for my constitutional rights, and making the campus a better place for my fellow students; on the other hand, I might be targeted by unwelcome attention, or punished in some way. I sought the advice of my parents, husband, and in-laws, and did a lot of praying before finally deciding that a lawsuit was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit never went to court. Instead, LSU agreed to revise its speech policy, and the new policy was released<\/a> last week. Under the newly clarified speech policy, my fellow LSU students are free to distribute literature almost anywhere on campus, and they do not have to obtain prior approval!<\/p>\n

I am extremely humbled that I was able to help make this change happen, and I\u2019m thrilled that the new policy will ensure that I and my fellow LSU students are able to freely exercise our freedom of speech. It was a hard decision, but I know that it was the right one, and the attorneys at ADF were so patient and helpful, making sure that I understood exactly what was going on at all times.<\/p>\n

If your university has a Free Speech Alley or a restrictive speech policy, I would encourage you to contact ADF<\/a> and make a stand for free speech on your campus!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No more “free speech alleys.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":37736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy fight for free speech at LSU - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My fight for free speech at LSU - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No more "free speech alleys."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-11T13:34:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-11T13:46:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Deanna-Candler.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"246\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deanna Wallace\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deanna Wallace\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deanna Wallace\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/90f498f4fb287419ccee7a991d7fb04a\"},\"headline\":\"My fight for free speech at LSU\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-11T13:34:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-11T13:46:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/\"},\"wordCount\":745,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Human Rights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-fight-for-free-speech-at-lsu\/\",\"name\":\"My fight for free speech at LSU - 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