Seminole Community College: Refusal to Allow Student to Distribute Literature

Case Materials

Media Coverage

  • "Group Defends Campus Free-Speech Rights," JoAnn Loviglio, Associated Press, August 27, 2005: Since 1999, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has battled pro bono for evangelicals and atheists, animal rights activists and campus conservatives, and others who say they have been silenced by school administrations because of their points of view.
  • "Philly group takes national lead in fighting campus censorship," JoAnn Loviglio, Associated Press State and Local Wire, August 21, 2005
  • "Fla. College Student Successfully Fights Campus ‘Free Speech Zone’," Rebecca McNulty, Student Press Law Center, June 28, 2005: After Seminole Community College administrators and officials from FIRE corresponded over a two-month period, the college agreed to let Campos distribute her pamphlets near the café and revise their free speech zone policy.
  • "Student Activist Wins ‘Free-Speech’ Battle," Mark Harper, Daytona Beach News-Journal, June 23, 2005: A Seminole Community College student has won the right to set up a table in the campus cafeteria and distribute literature on slaughterhouses after being told she couldn't because it would cause "exceptional controversy."
  • "SCC Reverses Speech Decision," Orlando Sentinel, June 19, 2005: Seminole Community College did an about-face last week in a dispute over free speech. It originally refused to let a student hand out animal-rights brochures in the café at its Oviedo campus. The student could do that, but only in a designated "free-speech zone," administrators had said. They changed their position after a national group, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, took them on. The school says it will now re-evaluate its free-speech policies.
  • "Victory for Animals and Free Speech!," peta2.com, June 17, 2005: Eliana, die-hard animal advocate that she is, was not deterred. She gathered support from a number of professors and contacted her friends at peta2 and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Through correspondence with the school and FIRE’s news release and action alert, the school agreed to respect Eliana’s civil liberties and allow her to table and distribute peta2 literature.
  • "A Knuckleheaded Dad’s Vow to Do Better," Bart Adams, The Daily Record (Dunn, N.C.), June 17, 2005: But in the spirit of 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire (who is widely credited with saying, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”), I must now come to PETA’s defense.