It’s not often that a group of students threatens legal action against its own school as a result of something that happened at a football game, but that’s exactly what’s currently happening at Stanford University as a group of students is reportedly planning to sue the school for suppressing free speech at Saturday’s game against the Washington State Cougars.
A group of students known as “Stanford Hates Fun” is claiming that Stanford suppressed their free speech at Saturday’s game by confiscating signs, forcing students to partially disrobe to prove they were not carrying any signage, and an increased police and security presence despite a small crowd at the Stanford Cardinal game, according to a report from Outkick.
The group believes that Stanford’s actions violated California’s Leonard Law, which “prohibits private colleges from making or enforcing any rule that would subject a student to disciplinary action for engaging in expression that would be protected by the First Amendment or the California Constitution’s free expression provision.”
The students believe this law was violated because Stanford does not prohibit signs from the stadium and the security did not give a consistent explanation for why the signs were prohibited on Saturday.
“When we asked why they were prohibiting signs, we received different answers from different staff. We therefore have reason to believe that these signs were prohibited specifically because of their content,” Stanford Hates Fun said in a statement.
The “Stanford Hates Fun” group was protesting what it believes is a deliberate suppression of social functions by the university administration. The students claim that a new and excessive approach has made it difficult to register on-campus events with the university, resulting in a drastic decrease in on-campus social functions.
The students say they are pursuing legal action.
[Outkick]
