The Volokh Conspiracy - California Community College Tries To Restrict Graphic Anti-Abortion Posters:

The Tulare Advance-Register reports:

Pro-life groups at a College of the Sequoias demonstration Monday were told by campus officials to limit the visibility of graphic posters or face removal from campus .... When organizers refused and contacted the college's legal advisers, the protest was allowed to continue without restriction. The anti-abortion demonstration will continue today in the college's free-speech area....

The protesters were told Friday and again Monday morning to turn their posters away from passersby, [Tulare-Kings Right to Life member Michael] Seaward said. Those wishing to view the material -— including images of discarded fetuses and images of genocide from around the globe -— would have had to step inside a fenced-off display area....

[College of the Sequoias President Bill] Scroggins said Monday administrators were trying to enforce a campus policy that regulates the time, place and manner of on-campus speech. There is not an attempt to censor content, he said. Scroggins said that over the years, [Dean of Student Services Don] Mast has received numerous complaints from students and staff members who found the anti-abortion groups' images offensive....

I'm sorry to hear about the college's initial attempt to restrict the speech -- a restriction that, from the press account, was indeed aimed at the supposedly offensive content of the speech, and thus couldn't be upheld as a constitutionally permissible content-neutral "time, place, and manner" restriction. But I'm glad that the college eventually backed down.

	[Eugene Volokh, March 3, 2008 at 4:57pm] Trackbacks California Community College Tries To Restrict Graphic Anti-Abortion Posters: The Tulare Advance-Register reports: Pro-life groups at a College of the Sequoias demonstration Monday were told by campus officials to limit the visibility of graphic posters or face removal from campus .... When organizers refused and contacted the college's legal advisers, the protest was allowed to continue without restriction. The anti-abortion demonstration will continue today in the college's free-speech area.... The protesters were told Friday and again Monday morning to turn their posters away from passersby, [Tulare-Kings Right to Life member Michael] Seaward said. Those wishing to view the material -— including images of discarded fetuses and images of genocide from around the globe -— would have had to step inside a fenced-off display area.... [College of the Sequoias President Bill] Scroggins said Monday administrators were trying to enforce a campus policy that regulates the time, place and manner of on-campus speech. There is not an attempt to censor content, he said. Scroggins said that over the years, [Dean of Student Services Don] Mast has received numerous complaints from students and staff members who found the anti-abortion groups' images offensive.... I'm sorry to hear about the college's initial attempt to restrict the speech -- a restriction that, from the press account, was indeed aimed at the supposedly offensive content of the speech, and thus couldn't be upheld as a constitutionally permissible content-neutral "time, place, and manner" restriction. But I'm glad that the college eventually backed down.