Georgia school’s ‘free speech zone’ policy might be breaking the law, legal group finds: EXCLUSIVE

A legal group is calling attention to a Georgia school that shut down a Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) table, potentially going against both Georgia and U.S. law. 

On March 12, the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), which identifies itself as “a national, nonprofit legal organization dedicated to defending liberty and Rebuilding the American Republic,” sent a letter to Valdosta State University in Georgia regarding the school’s closing down of a YAL table on campus. 

According to the letter “A VSU student and his invited guest, an employee of YAL, set up a table in an open, outdoor area of campus to speak with students who walked by about starting a YAL chapter on VSU’s campus.” 

It goes on to detail that at first, the two were left alone, but “when they returned on the second day, they were met by a VSU administrator who insisted that only registered student organizations could use the area they were in and that they would need to move to the ‘free speech zone’—a tiny, out-of-the-way section of campus obscured by bushes and trees that is only open for a small part of the week. Knowing it would be harder for them to reach students from the ‘free speech zone,’ the pair complied, but reluctantly.”

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“Moving to the speech zone made it much harder for the YAL members to recruit other students to join their organization, and they were unable to secure enough signatures to form a campus chapter,” the organization explained in a press release.

SLF’s complaint details VSU’s policy limiting outsiders to speaking in the “free speech zone,” which “must be reserved in advance, is only open during working hours Monday through Thursday and only until 2:30 p.m. on Friday, is only open to one table at a time, and is poorly positioned on campus.”

The group alleges that both this policy and the school’s shutting down of the YAL table “appear to contradict” Georgia’s FORUM Act, which forbids state colleges and universities from setting up “free speech zones” and states: “Unrestricted outdoor areas of campuses of public institutions of higher education in this state shall be deemed public forums for the campus community.”

SLF contends that the “Campus community” in this context includes “invited guests,” such as the YAL representative. 

SLF also asserts that Valdosta State’s “free speech zone” policy potentially violates the First Amendment: “VSU’s policies are in tension with the First Amendment because they limit non-student speech to the tiny free speech zone, by tightly curtailing the hours in which speech can occur, and by requiring that speakers obtain prior permission for even basic expressive activities like tabling.”

The letter calls on the school to “(1) amend its policies as necessary to accord with state and federal law and (2) ensure that its staff are enforcing VSU policies in compliance with state and federal law,” adding. “We further urge VSU to issue a statement acknowledging the error and reiterating VSU’s commitment to open discourse on its campus.”

“As a Georgia university, Valdosta is bound by Georgia law,” SLF’s Vice President of Litigation Braden Boucek said. “And the law makes it clear that a university must respect the freedom to gather in outdoor areas without being forced into faraway speech zones. This freedom clearly extends to invited speakers too, and this makes sense because students should be using all the resources available to them to engage in speech and start clubs based on their interests during their four years on campus.”

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“Valdosta’s actions present a Catch-22. According to the university, a student and his invited guest must be members of a registered student organization before they can table near other students,” SLF’s Director of Legal Initiatives Cece O’Leary told Campus Reform. “But they can’t form a registered student organization until they have enough signatures, and they can’t get signatures when they are hidden away in a so-called free speech zone.”

Campus Reform recently reported that another university, the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, shut down a YAL table. In that case, YAL State Chair Quinn Whittington claimed that the school wanted those involved to move their table to an inconvenient location with less access to students.

Valdosta State University responded to Campus Reform’s request for comment, writing: “Valdosta State University affirms and protects freedom of expression for all members of the campus community and takes any concerns about freedom of expression rights seriously. We have received a letter from the Southeastern Legal Foundation and are reviewing it.”