(THE COLLEGE FIX) — A lawsuit has been filed against Macomb Community College after its campus police tried to stop a group of students from handing out information touting the benefits of fossil fuels.
Three students working to advance their arguments at the Michigan college in late April were threatened with trespassing by the officers because the students did not have official permission from administrators to engage in public expression on campus, alleges the lawsuit, filed last week.
The lawsuit claims the college’s policy requiring a 48-hour pre-approval in person and in writing for expressive activity is a violation of students’ First Amendment rights. The suit also takes issue with the fact that even after such permission is obtained, the speech zone at the community college’s Central Campus is only about .001 percent of the entire 230-acre campus.
