Los Angeles Pierce College Believes Free Speech Should Be Limited To A Very Small Campus Space

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California used to be synonymous with freedom. Not anymore.

A couple of years ago, Los Angeles Pierce College student Kevin Shaw was handing out Spanish-language copies of the U.S. Constitution along the main walkway on his college campus. He was also trying to get people to join his group, Young Americans for Liberty. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education explains that things didn’t go as planned for Shaw:

Shortly after he began, a Pierce administrator approached and told him that he could not distribute literature outside of the “free speech area,” an ironically named zone roughly the size of three parking spaces on Pierce’s 426-acre campus. Shaw was also told he would have to fill out a permit application to use the free speech zone, or else he would be asked to leave campus. Outside of the free speech zone, Pierce College students are prevented from engaging in expressive activity across more than 99% of their campus.

On March 28, 2017, Shaw filed a lawsuit challenging Pierce’s free speech zone as well as the requirement that students get permission before speaking or distributing literature on campus. Since Pierce is one of nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District, Shaw’s suit also challenges a district-wide policy requiring each campus to designate free speech zones. On October 24, 2017, the Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest in the case arguing that, based on the facts alleged in the lawsuit, Pierce and the District’s policies and practices violate students’ First Amendment rights and denied Shaw “his right to engage in expressive activity in a public forum.” The lawsuit has the potential to affect the free speech rights of the more than 100,000 students in the District, which is the largest community college district in the country.

Since when, in this nation, do we need a “free speech zone?” Isn’t the whole country supposed to be a free speech zone? And isn’t it ironic that Shaw was handing out copies of the Constitution when this whole problem erupted?

I love the “free speech area” sign, which even indicates you have to get permission to even use the space.

In L.A., I don’t think “free” means what it means in the rest of the country. Watch FIRE’s video on the case below.