College student wins lawsuit over civil rights violation

California’s Modesto Junior College (MJC) agreed to settle a First Amendment lawsuit filed last October by student Robert Van Tuinen, whom the college prevented from handing out copies of the Constitution on Constitution Day. The videotaped incident drew national media attention.

As part of the settlement, MJC has revised its policies to allow free speech in open areas across campus and has agreed to pay Van Tuinen $50,000. Van Tuinen was represented by the firm of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Washington, D.C., and assisted by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

“FIRE is very pleased that Robert Van Tuinen and Modesto Junior College have reached this settlement—and that Modesto Junior College students will now be able to exercise their First Amendment rights across campus,” said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. “But because 59% of colleges nationwide maintain policies that clearly and substantially restrict student speech, there’s much more work to be done.”

Last September 17—the 226th anniversary of the Constitution’s signing—MJC prevented Van Tuinen from handing out copies of the Constitution in a grassy area by the student center. Van Tuinen notified FIRE about the situation, and FIRE promptly wrote MJC, asking the college to rescind its unconstitutional policies. With no satisfactory response forthcoming, on October 10, with FIRE’s assistance, Bob Corn-Revere, Ronald London, and Lisa Zycherman of Davis Wright Tremaine filed a federal lawsuit on Van Tuinen’s behalf. On December 17, MJC agreed to suspend enforcement of the policies in question while settlement talks took place.

Late yesterday, both parties signed a settlement agreement that awards Van Tuinen $50,000 and reflects three new policies that open up the campus to free expression—MJC’s policy on time, place, and manner, the accompanying administrative procedures, and MJC’s Expectations for On-Campus Free Speech Activities. Taken together, these new policies abolish the requirement that students and faculty seek MJC’s permission to speak. Free expression is rightfully now allowed in all “areas generally available to students and the community,” which include “grassy areas, walkways, and other similar common areas.” The settlement also prohibits MJC from reverting to the policies that were in place when Van Tuinen’s right to distribute the Constitution to his fellow students was denied.
http://www.thefire.org/victory-modesto-junior-college-settles-students-first-amendment-lawsuit/

Maryland police officer arrests videographer, telling him he has “lost” his freedom of speech:

In a chaotic video out of Maryland, a horde of cops were struggling to arrest two suspects in the middle of a road for unknown reasons when an officer storms up to the videographer standing on the side of the road and tells him, “get out of my face.”

The videographer asserts his rights to record, so a police sergeant then storms up to him and starts shoving him, telling him to “get the hell out of here” and “leave” and accusing him of “diverting my attention” from piling on the two suspects who were not resisting – even though there were countless other people standing around watching, none of them, however, holding a camera.

The videographer starts walking away, but keeps pointing out that he had not broken any law, which prompts the sergeant to storm up to him again and say the following:

“Look at me, do you see the police presence here? Do you see us all. We’re not fucking around, do you understand? Do not, do not disrespect us. Do not, not listen to us. Walk away and shut your fucking mouth or you’re going to jail. Do you understand.”

The sergeant walks away and the videographer asks if he had committed a crime, prompting the sergeant to walk back to him, grab him arm and twist it behind his back.

“Don’t open your mouth,” the cop barks. 

“I thought I had freedom of speech,” the videographer responds.

“You don’t, you just lost it,” the cop says.
http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/02/24/maryland-cop-pushes-shoves-videographer-telling-lost-freedom-speech/