California (1999)
A University
of California policy prohibiting student governments and the University of California
Student Association (UCSA) from lobbying has been overturned. The decision was
announced on January 8th by Federal District Judge Breyer of the Northern District
of California and may end a multi-year battle by California students for their
free speech rights.
This decision
comes in response to a complaint filed by the Associated Students at the University
of California in Riverside last January. Their suit claimed that shutting students
out of the political process violates their constitutional rights.
While the details of the case center around the effect Smith v Regents should have
on California, this ruling sends a positive message to campuses everywhere.
Breyer's ruling reinforces that lobbying does have educational value and suggests
that there are serious constitutional protections attached to the right of students
to lobby.
"I'm very
excited and a bit relieved. After three years, we're finished with the case
and I think it was a fair judgment," said Paul Song, Riverside Student Body
President. Song has been a part of the case from start to finish. He was a member
of the student senate when they originally decided to file the case. Now that
the case is over, Song and the student government will be actively lobbying
the legislature for more education and financial aid funding.
University
attorneys who defended the ban in court are not necessarily sad to see the restrictions
go. "We felt that the original California Supreme Court decision (in Smith
v Regents) was somewhat intrusive," said Gary Morrison in an interview with
the Chronicle of Higher Education. Morrison is the deputy general counsel for
the University of California.
This decision
is an important milepost in the legal debate surrounding funding of student
activities. "This adds to the chorus of legal precedent that supports student
speech as an important and constitutionally protected part of the University
experience," said Robin Hubbard of the Center for Campus Free Speech.
Historical
Background
This is
not the first time the University of California has made headlines over campus
speech. Their 1993 loss in the Smith v Regents case led to a host of
restrictions on funding 'political' speech and activities. Unfortunately, the
California ruling also spurred many other campuses to second-guess their own
student fee policies.
However, the Riverside ruling
is the second time in recent history that the University of California has been
instructed to reverse restrictions on student speech put in place after the
Smith ruling. In 1997 the University General Counsel's office restored the
ability of all student organizations, except student government, to lobby. This
decision followed a United States Supreme Court ruling which declared it unconstitutional
for campuses to base funding decisions upon the content of an organization's
speech (Rosenberger v Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia,
1995).
Both the U.S. Supreme Court
ruling and the Riverside case give campuses a new standard to strive for. They
reinforce that the forum created by student fees should embrace students' ability
to express ideas, regardless of their 'political' or 'ideological' bent. Back to Archive
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