Modesto Junior College Police Officer Who Prohibited Student from Handing Out Copies of the U.S. Constitution on Constitution Day
Modesto Junior College Free Speech Zone –FIRE
(KSTE Sacramento/Daily Caller) A police officer at Modesto Junior College told a patriotic Libertarian student that it was against (at a publicly funded) college rules for him to hand out copies of the U.S. Constitution on campus.
When was the 1st Amendment repealed?
The exchange between student Robert Van Tuinen and a campus police officer was captured on video Tuinen told the campus police officer that he wished to start a Young Americans for Liberty chapter on campus and hoped that passing out copies of the Constitution on campus would generate interest in that. The Modesto Junior College police officer however maintained, that Van Tuinen was still not permitted to distribute fliers without college authorization.
Modesto Junior College Police Officer: “Anytime anything is being passed out…you have to go through the student development office.”
Robert Van Tuinen: “Do you know what this is? Why are there rules tied to my free speech?”
The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression which includes the right to free speech, press, assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances and the implied rights of association and belief without government interference.
Nevertheless, the Modesto Junior College police officer brought Van Tuinen before Administrator Christine Serrano where he was advised because of a “time, place and manner” he can only pass out literature inside the “free speech area.”
Serrano asks Van Tuinen to fill out an application and photocopy his student ID–Serrano says that she has “two people right now so you’d have to wait until either the 20th, 27th or you can go into October.”
Van Tuinen protests that he wants to pass out the Constitutions on ‘Constitution Day’ at which point Serrano tells him, “You really do not need to keep going on.”
More here from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Related: Denton, Texas H.S. Text Book Rewrites 2nd Amendment
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