Penn State silent amid free speech violation complaints

(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania State University faces scrutiny from constitutional rights groups after recent complaints that students can’t engage in election-related expressive activities in violation of the First Amendment.

In September, the university temporarily removed political ads its student-run publication, the Daily Collegian. The decision prompted letters from the Foundation for Individual Rights, or FIRE, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, or ACLU, to Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi.

FIRE describes itself as a “defender of fundamental rights on college campuses,” while the century-old ACLU labels itself as “the nation’s foremost guardian of liberty.”

In a second letter, the organizations allege the university blocked voter registration on campus, thereby “restricting students’ ability to engage in election-related expressive activities on campus in violation of both its constitutional obligations and, seemingly, its own established policies.”

The Center Square’s multiple attempts to receive comments from Bendapudi’s office and the university’s public relations team were unsuccessful.

Jessie Appleby, FIRE’s program officer, told The Center Square that thwarting students’ political expressions is “unlawful,” noting “there’s no question” that both canvassing and registering voters is protected under the First Amendment.

“Free speech is vital to our democratic form of government because it facilitates open debate of different perspectives and ideas,” she said. “Free expression is also fundamental to the university’s own mission of intellectual inquiry and pursuing knowledge.”.

Legal Director Witold Walczak of the ACLU-PA expressed similar sentiments.

“Colleges and universities are supposed to be the epitome of a marketplace of ideas,” he told The Center Square. “The First Amendment rights of speech, freedom, association, petition, press, are really the bedrock of democracy.”

Appleby and Walczak both signed the second letter sent to Bendapudi. In the letter, an answer is demanded from Penn State by Friday, Oct. 25.

“The rules apply regardless of what it is that the people want to speak about,” Walczak said. “We don’t ask what political party or candidate people support or exactly what they want to talk about, we just hear that they’re being restricted,” Walczak said, adding that there are “very few exceptions to First Amendment protected speech.”