California State Polytechnic University, Pomona – Stand Up For Speech Lawsuit

March 31, 2015

Nicolas Tomas was banned from handing out flyers because he did not have a permit to speak.

California: Unconstitutional Discriminatory Harassment Policies

August 1, 2009

Student Code of Conduct

Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 12, 2017

Students are expected to be good citizens and to engage in responsible behaviors that reflect well upon their university, to be civil to one another and to others in the campus community, and contribute positively to student and university life.

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Housing License Agreement: Posting

Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2017

University Housing Services reserves the right to remove from public view any signs or materials that promote alcohol/drugs, actual violence or harm, fighting words, true threats, expression that constitutes criminal or severe harassment, defamation, obscenities, and/or false advertising.

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University Catalog: Student Conduct and Discipline- Hate Crime Policy

Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: September 12, 2017

Hate Incident: Not all expressions of hate or group bias rise to the level of a hate crime as defined in state and federal statute. A noncriminal act or incident, while not criminal, is done with the apparent intention to: harass, intimidate, threaten, retaliate, and create conflict, because of a person’s race, ethnic/national origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender, or disability. Reporting and monitoring of hate incidents is important, as they may serve as indicators of potential threats and/or campus climate that may escalate into criminal acts.

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Executive Order 1097: Systemwide Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation, Sexual Misconduct, Dating and Domestic Violence, and Stalking against Students

Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2017

For purposes of this Executive Order, the following definitions apply: …

Harassment means unwelcome conduct, based on the Complainant’s Protected Status, that is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that its effect, whether or not intended, could be considered by a reasonable person in the shoes of the Complainant, and is in fact considered by the Complainant, as limiting her/his ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities or opportunities offered by the University.

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Sexual Harassment, a form of Sex Discrimination, is unwelcome verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that includes but is not limited to sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and any other conduct of a sexual nature where:

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2.  The conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that its effect, whether or not intended, could be considered by a reasonable person in the shoes of the Complainant, and is in fact considered by the Complainant, as limiting his or her ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities or opportunities offered by the University; or

3.  The conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that its effect, whether or not intended, could be considered by a reasonable person in the shoes of the Complainant, and is in fact considered by the Complainant, as creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.

Sexual Harassment also includes acts of verbal, non-verbal or physical aggression, intimidation or hostility based on gender or sex-stereotyping, even if those acts do not involve conduct of a sexual nature.

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Presidential Order: Use of University Buildings, Facilities, or Grounds

Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: September 12, 2017

All students and employees of Cal Poly Pomona and members of the public are free to lawfully exercise their constitutional right to freedom of expression on university property. Freedom of expression activity includes, but is not limited to, pure or symbolic speech, assembly, meeting, demonstrations or rallies, picketing, petitioning, distributing flyers, mime and theater, music and singing, survey research, and religious or political activity.

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Approved freedom of expression activities may take place on campus with the following exceptions: inside parking lots and university buildings and within 20 feet of any location in which instructional, educational and/or official business activities are being conducted. Popular locations are University Park and University Quad.

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The display or distribution of books, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, or similar published materials is permitted … Daily, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., except for current Cal Poly Pomona registered students, student clubs/organizations, staff, and faculty, who may display or publish at any time in conformity with this Order.

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Presidential Order: Use of University Buildings, Facilities, or Grounds

Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: September 12, 2017

While there will always be disagreements over what may constitute good taste or appropriate comment, there can be no question, particularly in a university, that freedom of expression as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution is a cherished and protected right. Accordingly, the campus community is asked to be tolerant of differing points of view and to respect the rights of others to express themselves. While one may find certain expressions or materials to be quite offensive or even insulting, the appropriate way to counteract such materials is through discourse, criticism, and the expression of contrary points of view.

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Anti-censorship Group: College ‘Free Speech Zones’ Threat to First Amendment

January 15, 2016

By Ashe Schow at Washington Examiner Late last year, the National Coalition Against Censorship produced a list of the “15 Threats to Free Speech in 2015,” detailing attacks on the First Amendment. … Read more here.

15 Threats to Free Speech in 2015

December 29, 2015

By Staff at NCAC Last month we brought you 15 inspiring stories about individuals and groups opening up dialogue, resisting censorship and speaking out to defend free expression. And now… the flip side. This list does not represent the most dire threats to free speech and expression, but the range of such threats–from giant internet companies to local school boards– and how those wielding power are successful in their attempts to harass, cajole or shut down speech they find disagreeable. Liberty Counsel The conservative religious group didn’t like the idea that a school in Wisconsin had scheduled a reading of […]

Cal Poly Student Sues University Over Free Speech Dispute

August 11, 2015

By CBS Staff at CBS Los Angeles POMONA (CBSLA.com) — Cal Poly Pomona must now pay a costly settlement after a student sued the school over being told he could not hand out pamphlets without a permit. 25-year-old nutrition student Nicolas Tomas was handing out pamphlets on campus in February to promote Veganism and criticize the treatment of farm animals. He says he was then told he needed a permit to be able to do so. “I was baffled and I was very discouraged and disappointed that a university would discourage free speech,” Tomas said. Tomas recorded his discussion with […]

2 California Colleges Settle Claims for Protest Restrictions

August 10, 2015

By The Associated Press at KSL.com POMONA, Calif. (AP) — Two California colleges have settled complaints over restrictions on student protests, and other campuses may come under similar scrutiny. California State Polytechnic University in Pomona and Citrus College in Glendora, both east of Los Angeles, have in the last eight months settled cases brought against them by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, also known as FIRE. Citrus paid $110,000 and agreed to make campus protests easier. Cal Poly paid $35,000 for attorney fees and court costs for Nicolas Tomas, a student who was handing out brochures supporting a […]

28 California Colleges, Universities Have ‘Restrictive’ Protest, Demonstration Policies

August 9, 2015

By Beau Yarbrough at Whittier Daily News Two California colleges have settled for $145,000 in damages in eight months after being sued over restrictions on student protests and political speech. And as other campuses prepare to begin fall classes, the organization that sued Citrus College and Cal Poly Pomona has a list of more than two dozen schools with restrictive protest and demonstration policies. On July 23, Cal Poly Pomona settled a lawsuit over a policy that restricted political speech to a 154-square-foot triangle of grass on campus for $35,000. In the settlement, the university agreed to revise its policies […]

Students Wring Nearly $1 Million Out Of Their Colleges For Violating Their Free-Speech Rights

July 24, 2015

By College Fix Staff at The College Fix Two big settlements landed this week in lawsuits facilitated by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, both involving students whose colleges tried to limit or punish their speech. Rather than let its president personally face hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, Valdosta State University agreed to a $900,000 settlement with Hayden Barnes, FIRE said Thursday. As The College Fix reported in January, an appeals court ruled that Valdosta State President Ronald Zaccari could be held personally liable for having Barnes expelled in 2007 for making an environmental-protest collage against proposed school parking […]

Cal Poly Pomona Reaches Settlement With Student Over Free Speech Rights

July 23, 2015

By Carla Rivera at LA Times Cal Poly Pomona has agreed to strengthen campus free speech policies after reaching a settlement with a student who sued when he was restricted from handing out literature promoting a vegan diet. In the settlement announced Thursday, the college said it has revised policies to ensure that free speech activities such as protests and leafleting are not limited to a single designated area and do not require advance permits. In addition, university police and staff in the Office of Student Life and Culture Centers will receive training on free speech guarantees. The college also […]

Cal Poly Pomona Settles Free-Speech Lawsuit Over Animal Rights Protest

July 23, 2015

By Beau Yarbrough at LA Daily News POMONA >> Cal Poly Pomona has settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of a student handing out animal-rights literature on campus. “I’m glad that Cal Poly was able to reach agreement fairly quickly,” said Nicolas Tomas. “I think had they reached out to their counsel when I reached out to their administrators before, we could have settled this before, but I feel like they kind of ran wild with their policies with no constitutional basis.” In the settlement, reached Thursday, Cal Poly agreed to revise its policies and pay Tomas $35,000 in damages […]

Schools Mend Their Repressive Ways

July 8, 2015

By Bob Kellogg at OneNewsNow Two schools in different states – each with the same problem: speech codes and policies that prohibit student free speech – have seen the error of their ways. Students at Dixie State University in Utah filed a suit after they were told their flyers depicting two former U.S. presidents along with an image of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara “disparaged” the former chief executives. Catherine Sevcenko of theFoundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) says the students contacted them for help. “I cannot imagine anything that is greater core political speech than mocking a U.S. president,” […]

Cal Poly Pomona Student at Center of Free Speech Debate

May 13, 2015

By Carla Rivera at Los Angeles Times Cal Poly Pomona student Nicolas Tomas never thought handing out leaflets promoting a vegan diet would become so controversial. But when college administrators moved to restrict his activities, Tomas sued the university. His case became a flashpoint in the debate over how far universities should go to promote tolerance and civility on their increasingly diverse campuses — and whether some of those policies unfairly restrict constitutionally protected free speech. Although virtually all academics say they support freedom of speech, many also argue that campuses have good cause to be sensitive to activities that […]

Cal Poly Pomona Suspends ‘Free Speech Zone’ Policy

May 6, 2015

By Beau Yarbrough at The Sun POMONA >> A month after a Cal Poly Pomona student sued the university over a policy that limited political speech to permit-holders standing in a defined area on campus, the university has said it will not enforce the policy while the matter is being litigated. “We have agreed to a standstill while we go through negotiations,” Cal Poly spokeswoman Esther Tanaka said Wednesday. “We’re pleased that the negotiations have been productive.” On March, 31, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on behalf of Nicolas Tomas, 24, a senior majoring […]

Going Through FIRE to Protect Our Rights: College Students Feel Heat on Campus Over Free-Speech Issues

April 20, 2015

By Editorial Staff at The Augusta Chronicle Young people are the future. It stands to reason, then, that they must understand their freedoms if freedoms are to endure into the future. Enter FIRE. The nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (www.thefire.org) helps protect students’ rights, particularly their First Amendment right to free speech. Unless you’ve followed FIRE, you’d be amazed at how much those basic rights are under assault today on American college campuses – which, in the 1960s, actually came to symbolize free speech. Like many college administrations, officials at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, not only set […]

Student Sues Public University for Requiring ‘Free Speech Permit’

April 17, 2015

By Bonnie Kristian at The Week College is a time of learning, making friends, and keeping your damn mouth shut unless you’ve been given permission to speak — or so it seems that may be the case at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) in Southern California. The school has developed a Byzantine listof requirements for students who want to exercise free speech on campus, even though, as a public school, CPP is legally required to guarantee First Amendment speech rights on its grounds. “At Cal Poly, students have to wear a free speech badge in the free speech zone and can only get that […]

Free-speech Violations May Cost Cal Poly Pomona

April 13, 2015

By Editorial Board at LA Daily News College administrators are in the business of education. So what is it about their own academic careers that has left so many of them so woefully uneducated about the historical importance of free speech in America? Time and again, highly paid bureaucrats at Southern California public colleges and universities have created unconstitutional “free speech zones” on their campuses aimed not at encouraging free speech but rather at throttling and ghettoizing it. They make up these rules and create tiny little areas for pamphleteering and politicking even though when they do so they frequently […]

Cal Poly Pomona Student Sues Over ‘Free Speech Zone’

April 9, 2015

By Beau Yarbrough at LA Daily News POMONA >> A student is suing Cal Poly Pomona after he was told that political speech on campus could only occur in a tiny “free speech zone.” Nicolas Tomas, 24, a senior majoring in nutrition, began handing out Vegan Outreach pamphlets advocating the vegan lifestyle and decrying the treatment of farm animals in the fall of 2013. “I’m passionate about animal rights, and one of the things we do is we advocate for a vegan diet,” he said. “Because there’s no animal products in the diet and that’s one of the major causes […]

California, A University Student Sued the School Violated the Freedom of Speech

April 9, 2015

Note: The original version of this article was written in Chinese. The translation was provided below by Google Translate. By Guo Jian at US China Press [ Press Network compiled Zhang Yang April 9] According to the report, “Conte La Costa Times” (Contra Costa Times) 10 reported that the California Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) a student of the school to initiate proceedings. Previously, he was told, in the school campus political speech can only be a small “free speech area”. Now 24-year-old Nicolas Thomas (Nicolas Tomas) is a student at the school nutrition, the fall of 2013, when […]

Student Fights CA University Over ‘Free Speech Badge’

April 7, 2015

By Bob Kellogg at OneNewsNow A public university has such restrictive speech policies on campus that students are required to wear a badge, and restricted to a tiny space, to pass out flyers. Nicolas Tomas, a student at California State Polytechnic University, filed last month after a police officer told him he needed a permit to hand out flyers promoting animal rights. Catherine Sevcenko of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, says Tomas was required to obtain an official name badge. FIRE has never seen a “free speech badge” required by a college, she tells OneNewsNow. “So […]

Litigation Is Beginning to Free Up Speech on Campus

March 31, 2015

By Jennifer Kabbany at National Review The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is busy making good on its promise to fight for students’ free speech rights through a massive litigation campaign. Since last year, FIRE’s Stand Up For Free Speech effort has filed nine First Amendment lawsuits against campuses that quash the First Amendment, according to its website. Four of the cases have already enjoyed successes in FIRE’s favor, and the others continue to wind their way through the court system. FIRE’s early victories in its litigation campaign illustrate that colleges’ limits on free speech are onerous and […]

Wear This Badge And Don’t Leave This Zone If You Want To Speak At Cal Poly Pomona

March 31, 2015

By Greg Piper at The College Fix An animal rights activist at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona is suing the school for making him get permission to hand out flyers and confine his activity to the school free-speech zone as a condition of his campus activism. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which is assisting Nicholas Tomas with the suit through its Stand Up for Speech litigation project, explains the situation: The lawsuit alleges that on February 4, a Cal Poly Pomona police officer stopped Tomas from handing out flyers on a campus sidewalk. The officer directed Tomas to the Office of […]

Student Animal Rights Activist Sues California State Polytechnic University for Free Speech Restrictions

March 31, 2015

By Jennifer Champagne at Paste Magazine Animal rights activist and California State Polytechnic University student Nicolas Tomas has filed a lawsuit against his university for restricting his free speech rights. Tomas has partnered with Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which protects and preserves students’ rights across college campuses. According to the lawsuit, Tomas alleges that a campus police officer had stopped him from distributing animal rights flyers on the sidewalk, asking Tomas to obtain a permit to pass out flyers on campus at a designated “free speech” zone for students. The zone makes up barely 0.01 percent of […]

Cal Poly Admin Says Suit Could Have Been Avoided If Student Had Only Met with Her First—But He Did

August 17, 2015

In April, a spokeswoman from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona claimed that if Nicolas Tomas, who challenged the university’s unconstitutional free speech zone in court, had just come to the administration, the situation could have been remedied without a lawsuit. As I pointed out here on The Torch in April, Nick did try to get administrators to address his concerns about free expression on campus—only to be given copies of outdated policies and told that he would have abide by their restrictive terms. Unable to get any satisfaction through bureaucratic channels, Nick turned to FIRE for help and became the […]

Victory: Animal Rights Activist Restores Free Speech Rights of Cal Poly Pomona Students with Lawsuit Settlement

July 23, 2015

LOS ANGELES, July 23, 2015—California State Polytechnic University, Pomona agreed today to settle a First Amendment lawsuit filed by Nicolas Tomas, a student and animal rights activist. Tomas’ victory restores not only his First Amendment rights but those of the nearly 24,000 students who attend Cal Poly Pomona. The lawsuit is the sixth consecutive victory for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s (FIRE’s) unprecedented and undefeated Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project. With assistance from FIRE, Tomas filed suit against Cal Poly Pomona in March after campus police and an administrator prevented him from handing out flyers about animal abuse […]

‘Los Angeles Times’ Shares Remarks from Student, Admins, Lawyers at the Heart of Cal Poly Pomona Lawsuit

May 13, 2015

A week ago, FIRE announced that California State Polytechnic University, Pomona was suspending its unconstitutional restrictions on speech during settlement talks for student Nicolas Tomas’s lawsuit against the school, brought as part of FIRE’s Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project. Tomas filed the suit in federal court after a campus police officer stopped him from handing out animal rights flyers outdoors on campus. Today, reporting by the Los Angeles Times reveals—yet again—the clash between college administrators’ desire to avoid intellectual conflict and the Constitution’s requirement that they allow the free exchange of ideas. As the Times explains, public colleges like […]

Dixie State U., Cal Poly Pomona Suspend Restrictive Speech Codes in Wake of FIRE-Led Lawsuits

May 7, 2015

PHILADELPHIA, May 7, 2015—Dixie State University in Utah and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona have both agreed this week to suspend numerous policies that substantially restrict students’ free speech rights on campus. The policy suspensions result from lawsuits filed this year as part of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s (FIRE’s) Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project, an unprecedented and undefeated national effort to eliminate unconstitutional speech codes from the nation’s public colleges and universities. “FIRE has been warning colleges for years that the Constitution is clear—there is no place for speech codes on a public college campus,” said […]

Cal Poly Pomona Suspends Unconstitutional Policies in Response to Animal Rights Activist’s Lawsuit

May 6, 2015

LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2015—In response to a First Amendment lawsuit filed by student and animal rights activist Nicolas Tomas, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona has promised not to enforce the university policies at issue while the case is being litigated. The lawsuit, which was filed in March as part of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)’s Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project, targeted Cal Poly Pomona speech codes that restrict where, when, and how students can exercise their free speech rights. “Cal Poly Pomona required students to wear a free speech badge in a free speech zone […]

Two Reasons Why Cal Poly Pomona Lawsuit Is Different

April 10, 2015

Last week, student Nicolas Tomas sued California State Polytechnic University, Pomona for violating his First Amendment rights by limiting his efforts to campaign for animal rights to a tiny “free speech zone” that makes up about 0.01 percent of the campus. Tomas’s suit, the ninth in FIRE’s Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project (SUFS), was the fifth to challenge the constitutionality of a free speech zone—a particularly obvious type of violation of the First Amendment that FIRE has challenged both in and out of court for years. This case has produced two interesting variations, however. First, students at Cal Poly […]

Cal Poly Pomona Plaintiff Speaks Out on Why He Decided to Sue His School

April 8, 2015

In a recent op-ed for California State Polytechnic University, Pomona’s student newspaper, The Poly Post, student-plaintiff Nicolas Tomas reviews the events that led him to sue his university and his goals for the lawsuit. As Torch readers may recall, on March 31, 2015, Tomas filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Cal Poly Pomona with FIRE’s help. It is the ninth lawsuit filed as part of FIRE’s Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project. Tomas is deeply passionate about veganism and animal rights issues. He tried to share this passion for animal rights with his peers at Cal Poly Pomona, but he […]

Student Animal Rights Activist Sues Cal Poly Pomona for Requiring Permit to Speak

March 31, 2015

LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2015—College student Nicolas Tomas filed a First Amendment lawsuit today against California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with assistance from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). The lawsuit targets university policies that restrict where, when, and how students can exercise their free speech rights. The lawsuit alleges that on February 4, a Cal Poly Pomona police officer stopped Tomas from handing out flyers on a campus sidewalk. The officer directed Tomas to the Office of Student Life to obtain a “permit,” namely a badge that he would have to wear while distributing any written material. […]