Great answers DH!
I would just add:
FIREs Guide to Free Speech on Campus
(see all the helpful guides at bottom of page)
(215) 717-FIRE (3473)
David Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
CD wrote:
> Do you guys know the laws concerning Campus Preaching?
> The security at WCU keep insisting that I can preach in only
> two areas on Campus which works good while student are
> in school-but if an event such as games and concerts..etc is
> held then I am stuck on the other side of campus where no
> one can hear (ie. the same two areas)?
Western Carolina University is a public university, so it is subject to the
establishment clause of our Constitution. This means that you do have the
right to speak anywhere on campus as long as you do not disrupt university
activities such as classes. For example, you can't stand outside a
classroom window and shout so loud that the students cannot hear the
professor's lecture.
Nevertheless, having the right to speak and the local authorities
recognizing your right are two different things. Local authorities are
always moving toward infringment of your Constitutional rights. They try to
control things, and control left unchecked leads to the infringement of
civil liberties. The first steps they take toward this infringement is by
requiring permits or by establishing free speech zones. When people comply
with these new rules, they have the control they seek. However, permits and
free speech zones often do infringe upon your Constitutional rights. It
usually takes court challenges to change these laws.
Your recourse to this problem include several tactics.
1. Try to educate the authorities that they are violating your civil
liberties. Good luck. This rarely works, but it is a necessary etiquette
to try it first. Plan to work your way up the chain of authority.
2. Solicit the help of an civil rights attorney or one of the many
Christian Legal groups that help preserve our religious liberties.
3. Exercise your civil rights respectfully, and prepare to be arrested and
to defend yourself in court. Cases like these often are lost in the lower
courts where Constitutional law is not well understood, so you have to
prepare to appeal to federal court before realizing victory. Sometimes,
however, the lower courts do recognize Constitutional law and you win right
away. Often the cases are dismissed before even getting to court. Holy
Hubert was arrested over 100 times, but I don't think they ever prosecuted
him in the USA. He did tell me about a prosecution in Mongolia, but he said
that he was never convicted of a crime in any of his arrests.
It really helps to become educated in Constitutional law. I have some
documents from my experience in court, but they are not in electronic form
that I could email to you. There are many court cases of other preachers
that have their legal briefs in PDF files. I have a few of these, but I
have not made any effort to make a collection of them. It should not be too
hard to google around the internet and collect the information you need to
understand Constitutional law.
In terms of the nuts and bolts of how to deal with police telling you to
stop, I have taken the following steps.
1. I take a cooperative attitude with police officers. I assume that they
are doing their job of investigating a complaint or trying to enforce a
policy that his superior has ordered him to enforce. Sometimes the police
officer has a personal beef, but I try not to let that make the
confrontation personal with me. I always respect his office even if he does
not.
2. I inform the officer that I am exercising my free speech rights and that
my speech is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States. I usually ask him, "is there some policy of the university
that you think I might be violating?" If he answers in the affirmative, I
ask him to reference the policy for me. If he cannot and still will not
allow me to speak, I tell him that I want to talk to his superior, or I ask
what univeristy administrator oversees the policy that he is trying to
enforce. Sometimes I go directly from there to that administrator's office.
Many times there is no actual policy that they are enforcing. In other
words, there is nothing written down. If that is the case, I inform the
administrator that they are violating my Constitutional rights and that I
intend to preach again in the same location. If they intend to continue to
hinder me illegally as they have already done, the individuals involved as
well as the university will be subject to monetary damages in court. This
usually results in a small police escort who stand and listen to me preach
all day. Sometimes they video tape me, looking for evidence to prosecute
me.
3. I sometimes have used a letter from Jim Elsman (Michigan attorney) to
cause the police to back down. It basically cites court cases that protect
my freedom to preach and it threatens the university with million dollar law
suit if they hinder my preaching. I haved used this letter if it appears
that the police officer really does not have any basis from stopping me, but
somebody up the chain of command has ordered him to do something about me.
What the letter does is allow him to cover himself. He usually photocopies
the letter and puts it in a file, then he allows me to keep preaching. It
gives him documentation that he attempted to do something, but was
threatened with a law suit.
So the bottom line is that according to federal law, you have the right to
speak anywhere on Western Carolina University, but the university policy
makers may not be recognizing that right and you might have to fight and
suffer some in order to gain that liberty again.
By the way, do you know Gary Birdsong? He is a preacher who lives in that
area and probably has experience on that campus. I've preached with him
several times, and he has stayed at my home when he has traveled through
this area preaching on campuses.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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