On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Raises Alarm Over Virginia Tech's Attempts to Limit Students' Rights to Free Speech & Assembly
Rutherford Institute Attorneys Caution Attorney General, Virginia Tech Board of VisitorsBLACKSBURG, Va. -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have written to Virginia Commonwealth Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Board of Visitors regarding Virginia Tech's recent adoption of an unconstitutional resolution restricting students' rights to free speech and freedom of assembly at campus meetings.
Without prior notice or public discussion of the proposed policy, the Board of Visitors unanimously passed a resolution on March 10, 2003, denying access to potentially controversial groups. The language of the resolution stated that "[a]ll requests for meetings will be submitted for approval to the president of the university at least 30 days in advance. The president will have final decision-making power to determine who can meet on university property." Raising the concern that school officials had overstepped their authority by adopting such a restrictive resolution, Institute attorneys argue that the resolution unlawfully restricts students' fundamental rights of free expression and public assembly and gives standardless discretion to the university president to determine which student groups are permitted to assemble. Kilgore must issue a written ruling on the proposed policy's compliance with existing law before the resolution can be implemented. The Rutherford Institute has requested that the attorney general formally advise the Board of Visitors of Virginia Tech that the resolution is invalid and unenforceable.
"Although universities are supposed to encourage open-mindedness, free inquiry and free expression, Virginia Tech is teaching its students opposing values by requiring them to get the president's personal permission to meet to discuss and debate ideas," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Virginia Tech's meeting policy is an affront to the First Amendment guarantee of the rights of free expression and free assembly and is patently unconstitutional."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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