The University offers bulletin boards throughout campus for students and staff to post flyers about upcoming events, job opportunities, and important announcements. The University regularly cleans off the bulletin boards to allow for new flyers but does not monitor the content. Rita, who is a graduate student in evolutionary biology, emailed the President to complain about flyers found on multiple bulletin boards. The flyers had an image of a monkey with the statement that read: “Those who believe in evolution are as dumb as their ‘ancestors’” and included the name of a student organization, We are Adam. Rita urges the President to take down the flyers because an institution of higher education should not permit people to insult its students or their studies.
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As a public institution, the university must respect the free speech rights of individuals on campus. Since the bulletin boards are offered as an open space for students and staff to post announcements, the university should not remove these flyers just because they might offend some.
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The university has more constitutional leeway to restrict the expressive activity of its employees, including faculty, than it does with students or third parties. If the actions of the faculty members are sufficiently disruptive to the educational operation of the university, the university might be able to stop them.
The content of this website is for informational purposes only and should not be understood as legal advice. For help with any legal problems or concerns, including those similar to the situations described herein, a licensed attorney should be contacted. The contributors to this site do not claim or guarantee that the information provided is or will be accurate, correct, or effective in any particular situation, and should not serve as a substitute for competent legal counsel.
A:
If the bulletin boards are intended for use only by staff and official student organizations, the university could remove flyers posted by other groups and individuals, regardless of the content. If other groups that are not official student organizations are allowed to post, the university probably cannot remove the We are Adam flyers.
The content of this website is for informational purposes only and should not be understood as legal advice. For help with any legal problems or concerns, including those similar to the situations described herein, a licensed attorney should be contacted. The contributors to this site do not claim or guarantee that the information provided is or will be accurate, correct, or effective in any particular situation, and should not serve as a substitute for competent legal counsel.