Thomas More Society and FIRE Pleased with Campus First Amendment Rights Agreement

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net

DAYTON, Ohio, March 12, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Yesterday Sinclair Community College (SCC), of Dayton, OH, agreed to settle a federal lawsuit brought by the Thomas More Society and Ohio attorneys Curt C. Hartman, Christopher P. Finney, and Bradley M. Gibson, in response to actions by the college to prohibit students from distributing literature and displaying signage on campus.

"We are pleased that Sinclair Community College decided to join with its students to promote free speech instead of silencing or trying to control the content of their speech," said Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel of the Thomas More Society. "At its core, the university campus provides a place for students to debate and grapple with ideas, including ideas that may not be popular in certain quarters. Freedom of expression is an absolutely fundamental value in a democratic, self-governing society and indispensable to the educational process."

The case was filed last summer in U.S. District Court, on the heels of a "Stand Up for Religious Freedom" rally opposing the U.S. Health and Human Services conscience-oppressing abortifacient-sterilization mandate. The rally had been organized and sponsored by members of the student body of the Dayton-based school.

Sinclair's campus police forbade student-generated signage during that rally, and the lawsuit by the Thomas More Society and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) alleged that the campus police had continued to engage in systematic censorship of free speech as at previous student-led rallies. The suit also alleged that students had been barred from distributing informational brochures to their classmates.

The lawsuit alleged that police stated the practice of disallowing signs and brochures was supposedly intended to comply with a school policy barring "disruptive behavior," even though censoring the content of signs or brochures was nowhere addressed in the actual wording of the policy cited. It is fundamental First Amendment law that the content of free speech, no matter how "offensive" it may be to certain onlookers, deserves the very highest degree of legal protection, despite the fact that some of those hearing or seeing the speakers' message may be "disruptive" and seek to impose their "hecklers' veto" against the speakers. Here, the police -- as is all too common -- were the sole folks within hearing or sight of the pro-life messages displayed on the "offensive" signs who sought to enforce their own "hecklers' veto." In every such case, the Thomas More Society will hasten to support the right of pro-life speakers to have their "say," loud and clear, in America's public forums!

As a result of the lawsuit, SCC has adopted a new policy recognizing and allowing for the exercise of broader First Amendment Rights of students and groups hosting expressive activities on campus. The college also agreed to pay $9,000 to cover the plaintiffs' costs and attorneys' fees.

Thomas More Society recognizes and applauds the fine legal work provided by lead attorneys Chris Finney and Brad Gibson of the law firm of Finney, Stagnaro, Saba & Patterson Co., L.P.A., based in Cincinnati and Columbus, OH, and Curt C. Hartman, of Amelia, OH, which led to this very positive result. In addition, the Thomas More Society appreciates the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education for writing to SCC President Steven Lee Johnson last year, asking Sinclair Community College to disavow the censorship of TVC's event by the SCC police and to promise never to enforce such a ban against signs in the future.

A copy of the settlement letter can be found here.

About the Thomas More Society
The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm that exists to restore respect in law for life, marriage, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago, the Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro-bono professional legal services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court. www.thomasmoresociety.org