ADF supports student free speech organization

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Vice President of Appellate Advocacy and Senior Counsel John Bursch regarding a proposed friend-of-the-court brief ADF filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Speech First v. Cartwright, a lawsuit challenging University of Central Florida policies that unconstitutionally restrict students’ First Amendment rights:

“Public universities should be the standard-bearers for a free-speech environment full of many viewpoints and voices. Universities can regulate truly problematic harassment while still upholding constitutional protections for freedom of speech. Instead, the University of Central Florida has enacted an unnecessarily expansive policy that unconstitutionally restricts and chills students’ protected speech. With this policy, university officials are taking part in a troubling, nationwide trend on campuses to censor student speech with which they disagree. Our brief discusses similar cases in which ADF has represented public-university students across the country censored by their own universities. We urge the court to strike down university policies that violate the First Amendment.”

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to ensuring freedom of speech and association for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

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