{"id":94213,"date":"2016-05-11T17:55:59","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T21:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=94213"},"modified":"2016-05-11T15:29:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T19:29:22","slug":"big-win-pro-life-free-speech-university-south-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/big-win-pro-life-free-speech-university-south-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life free speech wins at University of South Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/studentsforlife.org\/big-pro-life-free-speech-win-at-the-university-of-south-alabama\/\">Students for Life<\/a>)\u00a0Great news for free speech, specifically pro-life speech, on college campuses! Students for Life of America\u2019s University of South Alabama campus group, along with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, have reached a legal settlement in a lawsuit that has increased the amount of the University of South Alabama campus that is open to free speech\u00a0<strong>from less than one percent to the vast majority of campus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Also, the settlement ensures that the university\u2019s policies will be applied the same way to all student groups and prevents university officials from\u00a0<strong>censoring pro-life speech based on its message<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This is a big win for pro-lifers on college campuses and hopefully this settlement will be a blueprint for other similar cases down the road.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->The university had relegated Students for Life USA\u2019s pro-life display \u2013 a Cemetery of the Innocents \u2013 \u00a0to a small speech zone on campus because it deemed the event \u201ccontroversial.\u201d Under the university\u2019s policies, students had to obtain a permit 72 hours in advance if they wanted to use any area outside of that zone. In 2014, ADF attorneys\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.adfmedia.org\/News\/PRDetail\/9281\">filed the suit<\/a>\u00a0<em>Students for Life USA v. Waldrop<\/em>\u00a0in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama on behalf of the student group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUniversities are meant to be beacons for the free exchange of ideas. Sadly, they have too frequently become safe spaces to babysit kids who may be offended by a particular point of view,\u201d said\u00a0Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins. \u201cWe are pleased that the University of South Alabama will now allow its students to hear different viewpoints instead of protecting them from real-world discourse. Hopefully, other institutions of higher education will follow suit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/AbortionProcedures.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-88619\" src=\"https:\/\/www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/levatino-ad-LAN.jpg\" alt=\"levatino-ad-LAN\" width=\"306\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/levatino-ad-LAN.jpg 306w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/levatino-ad-LAN-300x221.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 306px) 100vw, 306px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In October 2013 and again in February 2014, Students for Life USA requested permission to a hold a \u201cCemetery of Innocents\u201d event, which consists of students placing small crosses in the ground to represent the innocent lives lost to abortion. University officials denied the request and said it would need to be held in the campus\u2019s speech zone, even though other groups had exercised free speech on other portions of the campus. At the time, the speech zone comprised less than one percent of the college\u2019s main campus.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldmag.com\/2014\/09\/pro_life_college_students_fight_for_free_speech\">World Magazine<\/a>\u00a0explained that:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">When Students for Life USA initially requested permission to set up the display in October 2013, the administration restricted them to the campus free-speech zone at the Student Center, which totaled about 1 percent of the campus. The group argued the restriction severely limited the display\u2019s impact. Campus policy at the time required student groups to request permission to use the free-speech zone three days prior to the event. According to the complaint, campus policy gave \u201cunbridled discretion\u201d to grant or deny student requests to the vice president of Student Affairs, John Smith, and the dean of students, Michael Mitchell. \u201cThese grants \u2026 created a system in which speech was reviewed without any standards, thus giving students no way to prove that a denial, restriction, or relocation of their speech was based on unconstitutional considerations,\u201d the complaint stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The university then changed its policy to allow student speech throughout most of the outdoor areas of campus, but it selectively prohibited students from engaging in free speech in areas that are visible from the roads bordering campus. The settlement ensures that this policy will be enforced in an even-handed way and that university officials do not have broad discretion to ban free speech based on its content or point of view. It also includes a financial settlement benefiting Students for Life USA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublic universities should encourage free speech, not shut it down or quarantine it to one small spot on campus,\u201d said ADF Senior Counsel David Hacker. \u201cThis lawsuit has ensured that University of South Alabama students can enjoy the \u2018marketplace of ideas\u2019 that a public university is supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor&#8217;s Note: This article was originally published at <a href=\"http:\/\/studentsforlife.org\/big-pro-life-free-speech-win-at-the-university-of-south-alabama\/\">Students for Life of America&#8217;s blog<\/a> on May 10, 2016, and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Students for Life)\u00a0Great news for free speech, specifically pro-life speech, on college campuses! Students for Life of America\u2019s University of South Alabama campus group, along with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, have reached a legal settlement in a lawsuit that has increased the amount of the University of South Alabama campus that is open to free [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":81444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[8740,6017,909,1871,8648,1872,8739,8625],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pro-life free speech wins at University of South Alabama<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The settlement ensures that the U of SA\u2019s policies will be applied the same way to all student groups, preventing officials from censoring pro-life speech.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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