DOJ Sues Jones College Over Its Mini Police State

FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, filed a lawsuit against Jones College after the school actually threatened to arrest students who are members of the Young Americans for Liberty.

Their crime was to try and initiate a conversation about marijuana legalization on campus. Campus police stopped them from raising awareness on the topic.

FIRE sued on behalf of the group and a student Michael Brown.

Campus Reform reported, “…the Department of Justice is weighing in on the matter, releasing a statement insisting that ‘college campuses should not be mini police states.’

“‘The United States of America is not a police state,’ said assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband, adding, ‘Repressive speech codes are the indecent hallmark of despotic, totalitarian regimes. They have absolutely no place in our country.'”

Aid needs to be cut off as the administration has threatened. We cannot continue to allow the 1st Amendment to be destroyed.

The campus police chief took Brown to his office and, according to the lawsuit, told him he should’ve been “smarter” and followed campus policy. The policy includes administrative approval and a minimum three-day waiting period before “gathering for any purpose” anywhere on campus.

Public colleges like Jones College may put in place reasonable restrictions on student expression, but they cannot maintain blanket restrictions on all student speech, the Clarion-Ledger reports.

“Some people get in trouble for smoking weed, but at Jones College, I got in trouble just for trying to talk about it,” Brown said in a statement. “That’s not what college is for. We’re supposed to debate openly about important issues, especially ones with huge national significance.”

The college claims they are just trying to maintain safe spaces for students. The college claims its mission to teach the ideals of a democratic society, which by definition includes free speech, the Ledger states.

PowerInbox