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Rowan University student newspaper The Whit reported late last month on a student petition urging the school to revise its free speech policy in order to address “recent hate speech from non-student organizations on campus.” Assistant Vice Presiden...
Steven Pico in 1981 Steven Pico may not be a household name. But for those who champion the freedom to read, he’s a big deal. Back in 1976, Pico and four other teens sued their school district in Long Island, NY, for banning 11 books from their classrooms and school libraries. The six-year battle to defend the constitutional rights [...]
ATLANTA, February 1, 2013-A federal jury today found former Valdosta State University (VSU) President Ronald M. Zaccari personally liable for $50,000 for violating the due process rights of former student Hayden Barnes in the case of Barnes v. Zaccari. In May 2007, Zaccari expelled Barnes for peacefully protesting Zaccari's plan to construct two parking garages on campus, calling a collage posted by Barnes on his personal Facebook page a "threatening document" and labeling Barnes a "clear and present danger" to VSU. Barnes first came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help in October 2007.
"College administrators have been blatantly and willfully violating student rights for decades, but they have far too often dodged personal responsibility. Not so today," said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. "We hope this serves as a much-needed wake up call to college administrators that it's time to start paying close attention to the basic rights of their students."
"After five years, I finally feel vindicated. This is a victory for me but it's also a victory for students everywhere," said Barnes. "I hope that other college administrators take heed and see that violating students' rights can be costly and that they will be held accountable. I thank my legal team and FIRE for making this victory possible and my friends and family for standing by me through this difficult fight."
Barnes' ordeal began in the spring of 2007, when he protested Zaccari's plan to construct two new parking garages on campus at a cost of $30 million. By posting flyers and sending emails to Zaccari, student and faculty governing bodies, and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, Barnes expressed his concerns and proposed what he saw as environmentally friendly alternatives. Barnes also penned a letter to the editor of the VSU student newspaper about the proposed parking garage plans and wrote to Zaccari to ask for an exemption from the mandatory student fee designated for funding the construction.
In response to Barnes' activism, Zaccari personally ordered that he be "administratively withdrawn" from VSU in May of 2007, ignoring the concerns raised by members of his administration. Zaccari absurdly claimed that Barnes presented a "clear and present danger" to both Zaccari and the VSU campus on the basis of a cut-and-paste collage Barnes had posted on his Facebook page that included pictures of Zaccari, a parking deck, and the caption "S.A.V.E.-Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage." Given no notice or opportunity to defend himself, Barnes came to FIRE for help in October 2007.
Today's verdict follows five years of litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels. In January 2008, Barnes filed suit in cooperation with eminent First Amendment attorney and FIRE Legal Network member Robert Corn-Revere of Davis Wright Tremaine in Washington, D.C., and Cary Wiggins of The Wiggins Law Group in Atlanta.
In September of 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia found that because Zaccari expelled Barnes without notice or a hearing, Zaccari violated Barnes' constitutional right to due process. In its opinion (PDF), the district court ruled that because Zaccari ignored "clearly established" law in punishing Barnes, Zaccari could not avail himself of the defense of "qualified immunity," and could be found personally liable for damages.
Zaccari and the Board of Regents appealed the district court's ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in October 2010, and oral arguments in the case were heard in Montgomery, Alabama, in November 2011. The Eleventh Circuit upheld the district court's denial of qualified immunity to Zaccari, finding that Barnes "had a clearly established constitutional right to notice and a hearing before being removed from VSU." Joined by 14 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum concerned about student rights on public campuses, FIRE had authored and filed an amici curiae brief with the Eleventh Circuit in April 2011 urging that result.
Following the Eleventh Circuit's ruling, the case returned to federal district court. The trial began on Monday, January 28, 2013, before the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Valdosta Division, and ended today with a verdict in Barnes' favor. In addition to the $50,000 judgment, attorneys' fees still remain to be assessed against the losing party. Barnes' separate breach of contract claim against the Board of Regents remains pending in state court.
"We are very pleased to have secured a just outcome for Hayden," said Corn-Revere.
FIRE has aided Barnes since learning of his case in October 2007. FIRE wrote repeatedly to Board of Regents officials, urging them to undo VSU's unlawful actions and uphold the Constitution within the university system. Under pressure from FIRE and the federal lawsuit against Zaccari and other VSU administrators, the Board of Regents finally reversed Barnes' expulsion early in 2008, and Zaccari retired months earlier than planned. Under further pressure from FIRE, former VSU President Patrick J. Schloss dismantled VSU's unconstitutional free speech zone in September 2008.
FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation's colleges and universities. FIRE's efforts to preserve liberty at Valdosta State University and on campuses across America can be viewed at thefire.org.
CONTACT: Will Creeley, Director of Legal and Public Advocacy, FIRE: 215-717-3473; [email protected]
Two years ago I sat upon the graduation stage to receive a diploma that would end my 13-year relationship with the public school I attended since kindergarten. As a member of a class of 125 students, this day symbolized endless shared memories and a common identity between us. Out of the five speeches given, the three student speakers [...]
LA MOCA's new director, Jeffrey Deitch, ordered a mural commissioned by the museum whitewashed within hours of its creation because of fear that its anti-war message would offend the museum's neighbors: a Veteran Hospital and a memorial to Japanese-American soldiers. A Department Of Education "Dear Colleague" letter on bullying worries First Amendment advocates because of its expansive definition of verbal [...]
Issue 113, Winter 2010-11 An invitation to young adult novelist Ellen Hopkins to speak at Teen Lit Fest 2011 in Humble, Texas was revoked because some parents complained about the content of Hopkins' novels. Other scheduled authors dropped out in protest and the Festival was canceled. In response to one elementary school parent complaining about the book's content, the [...]
Last week, a panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ban on the advertising of alcohol in college newspapers. The case involved a challenge to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission’s expansive ban on the advertising of beer, wine and mixed drinks in student-run publications throughout the state of Virginia. Beyond the obvious economic implications (the newspapers [...]
On Saturday, March 27, 1:00 PM, NCAC screens the winners of the 2009 Youth Free Expression Network (YFEN) film contest at its annual Youth Voices Uncensored event at the New York Film Academy at 100 East 17th Street in Manhattan.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the famous Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines when the court ruled in favor of students who had been suspended for protesting the Vietnam War. The Tinker case stated that students "do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." But 40 years later, students [...]
The 2009 YFEN Film Contest "Free Speech in Schools (Does it Exist?)" This year marks the 40th anniversary of the famous Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines when the court ruled in favor of students who had been suspended for protesting the Vietnam War. The Tinker case stated that students "do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of [...]
GRADE: B+ This extracurricular activity remains one of the most difficult offered at school these days – anyone who has ever worked on a student paper will vouch for the work that goes into investigating and getting the scoop, the late nights editing articles, and the ethical debates over striking the balance between objectivity and thoughtfulness for the school community. [...]
Even though a jury has now determined that Ward Churchill, a tenured professor at the University of Colorado, was fired as a result of his controversial views and in violation of his constitutional rights, his case remains controversial.
We’ve noticed that the State of Oregon has been a hotbed for censorship incidents lately. Here’s what’s been happening around the state: A Portland fifth grader has decided not to perform his act about President Barack Obama in his elementary school’s talent show after the principal forbade him from wearing a mask that depicts Obama during the performance. The principal [...]
Promoting drug use in a high school newspaper is undeniably inappropriate, but is there ever room for critical discussion about drugs? How about reporting on substantial medical research, which claims some psychedelic drugs might offer positive effects? Lakeridge High School senior Tyler Smith’s January op-ed, “Psychedelics: Agents of spiritual growth?” which reported on the effects of psychedelic drugs and brought [...]
Mark in the blog comments pointed out yesterday that he’d like to see more stories about students standing up for their rights. Student newspapers have great editorials supporting free speech, even in dicey cases like JuicyCampus (JuicyCampus itself is no longer running, but a replacement has already sprung up). NCAC’s film contest gives youth the chance to tell their story. [...]
On January 6, 2009, a new California law that strengthens First Amendment protections for high school and college newspapers went into effect. The law in California previously protected students from punishment for articles in newspapers, but didn't protect the school paper advisors. According to a statement in the LA Times from a lobbyist for the bill, "[i]n the last three [...]
At Faribault High School in Faribault, MN, students have refused to allow their superintendent to review a particular article before going to print. The Student Press Law Center reported that the students, citing their 1st Amendment rights, told the Superintendent: “What you believe [is] inappropriate concerning the Prieve story is not a legal standard for prior review or from stopping [...]
JuicyCampus sues Tennessee State University. Bonus: Excellent editorial from Brandeis University's student newspaper on why Brandeis should not ban JuicyCampus. Excerpt: "Students encouraging administrative control of which pages students can and cannot view on Brandeis' network are encouraging a restriction of their First Amendment rights."
And for a high school in Portage, IN, it also equals attention from journalists and student rights advocates alike. There are two issues at hand. One is the banning of a book, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, from the ninth grade English curriculum. The other is a decision by the school administration to institute a policy [...]
At DuPage College – a community college outside of Chicago – the board has recently proposed a policy change that would give far more power to the board of trustees. This would influence “such questions as the future of the curriculum, the role of the student newspaper, how outside speakers should be selected, and so forth”. And, perhaps most significantly, [...]
