George Leef writes for the Martin Center about one Southern university with a penchant for ending up in legal jeopardy.
Located just north of Atlanta, Kennesaw State University is a school enrolling some 35,000 students. Arguably, the most noteworthy thing about it is the fact that its officials keep making decisions that land it in court.
In February, the university’s “speech zone” policy came under attack. A student group, Ratio Christi, wanted to put up a pro-life display but a KSU administrator told them that they would be allowed to put up their display where they wanted on campus only if they agreed to remove certain posters that she said were “too controversial.” If they would not agree to that, they would only be allowed to host their display in the “free speech zone.”
Actually, KSU has seven speech zones that can be reserved for activities ranging from one that is optimal because of its proximity to large numbers of people passing by to the least appealing, a secluded, muddy one. That zone comprises just .08 percent of the school’s 405 acres. KSU’s speech zone policy, incidentally, was created by its Office of Student Life. (Such offices usually attract social justice warrior types who are eager to impose their values on everyone else.)
Completely absent from KSU’s regulations are any guidelines for administrators in deciding which sort of speech is going to be relegated to the worst zones and which will be allowed to take place in the desirable zones on campus.
