Young Americans for Liberty group says school threatened members with arrest for distributing flyers
A libertarian student group in San Marcos, Texas appears to have been threatened with arrest by university police for handing out flyers.
On Friday, a student member shared a video to X in which an official threatened them with arrest for not obtaining school permission to distribute flyers.
A libertarian student group in San Marcos, Texas appears to have been threatened with arrest by university police for handing out flyers.
On Friday, Texas State University student Eric Pinteralli posted a video and message to X in which he states that he and other members of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter had their First Amendment rights violated.
Tonight, several members of the Young Americans for Liberty at Texas State University chapter, including myself, were outdoors handing out flyers for our petition to end the freshman housing mandate to guests who were going to the Distinguished Alumni Dinner. Within 10 minutes of… pic.twitter.com/OEFxDWr6wB
— Eric Pinteralli (@e_pinteralli) November 16, 2024
”Tonight, several members of the Young Americans for Liberty at Texas State University chapter, including myself, were outdoors handing out flyers for our petition to end the freshman housing mandate to guests who were going to the Distinguished Alumni Dinner,” Pinteralli writes. “Within 10 minutes of us commencing, 4 police officers kicked us off the premises, violating our First Amendment right to freedom of speech.”
”Texas State does not care about students’ free speech, and they don’t like it when their students challenge their policies, especially the ones that make them lots of money,” he continues. “Our chapter is even more committed to ending the forced housing of freshmen, and we will continue to fight for financial freedom and speech.”
In the video shared by Pinteralli, a woman can be heard telling the students that they would go to jail if they did not cease and desist. The same individual also repeatedly referred the student to the university’s student engagement website to gain approval to distribute information on campus.
”Texas State University is a public institution and supports the free exchange of ideas which includes freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry, and freedom of dissent,” the Texas State Student Involvement and Engagement web page states. “Texas State respects the right of individuals to express their social and political views through all forms of legally protected speech, press, and assembly.”
[RELATED: Free speech org suing Texas State says the university’s policies violate students’ rights]
The website identifies common areas that are “traditional public forums and as such are subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions,” as well as other campus areas that are “not public forums and are not available for expressive activity.”
The university’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter currently features a petition “to make on-campus housing voluntary for all students, allowing them the freedom to choose where they live during their time at the university.”