On The Front Lines
Citing Lack of Campus Club Affiliation, Illinois College Prohibits Student from Posting Flyers about Constitution & Need for Citizen Activism
ROCKFORD, Ill. —The Rutherford Institute has come to the aid of an Illinois college student who was prevented by officials at Rock Valley College (RVC) from posting flyers on campus meant to raise awareness about the Constitution, allegedly because he was not a member of any campus club. Decrying the school’s policy as discriminatory and an unconstitutional infringement of Dominic Celletti’s First Amendment rights, Rutherford Institute attorneys are urging RVC officials to allow Celletti and other individual students access to campus bulletin boards otherwise limited for use by recognized student organizations.
The Rutherford Institute’s letter to RVC officials is available here.
“The college campus is the quintessential marketplace of ideas,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “By removing the flyers posted by Dominic Celletti, college officials have completely undermined Celletti’s right to freedom of expression. This type of censorship is antithetical to free societies and more akin to authoritarian regimes.”
In early September 2011, Celletti went to the RVC Student Life Center and requested permission to post flyers on bulletin boards located in the Center and elsewhere. The flyers, which included a picture of the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag with the coiled snake, exhorted students to exercise their right to free speech, stand up against government intrusion, read the Constitution and not ignore their rights. Celletti was allegedly told at that time that he could not post his flyers on the bulletin boards because he was not a member of any campus club. Celletti posted his flyers on the Center bulletin board anyway, but within three days he discovered that the flyers had been removed. Celletti thereafter spoke with RVC’s Manager of Student Life about the situation, but again was allegedly denied permission to post the flyers and was told he could post them on a more remote place on campus. Celletti raised the matter with RVC’s Board of Trustees at their September 27 meeting, but received no assurances that he would be accorded the same treatment as individuals associated with campus clubs. Celletti subsequently turned to The Rutherford Institute for help.
Insisting that denying individual students like Celletti access to campus bulletin boards violates the First Amendment, Institute attorneys are urging RVC president Jack Becherer to ensure that students are treated equally in respect to their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights, irrespective of their affiliation or lack thereof with a campus club. “By opening the campus for distribution and posting, RVC has clearly created a public forum for college-related persons and entities under the First Amendment,” stated Institute attorneys. “The exclusion of individual students from that forum violates the Constitution because the exclusion is not justified by some compelling reason.” Additionally, RVC rules give the Manager of Student Life unfettered discretion to allow access to the bulletin boards or to allow the distribution of expressive materials on campus. Institute attorneys argue that granting officials carte blanche to determine who may or may not engage in speech is inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee to free speech.
