Student Pro-Lifers Sue Arizona State, Alleging Unequal Treatment
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
July 31, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe is being sued for allegedly infringing on the free-speech rights of pro-life students by ordering their group to obtain insurance for an exhibit the students wanted to display on the campus. In December 2005, Arizona State University Students for Life submitted a request to display its exhibit, a comprehensive display designed by Justice for All that highlighted various aspects of the pro-life viewpoint. But after attempting to reserve several areas on campus in which to display their information, ASU administration officials told the group it would be restricted to just one location.
Then, university officials told the pro-life club it would have to pay two separate fees in order to display their exhibit -- a $50 reservations fee, which the group had not been charged in the past, and a $300 fee to speak on campus. The group was also told it would need to submit a certificate of insurance.
ASU Students for Life contacted the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which sent the school a letter on the club's behalf. After receiving the letter, the university dropped the fee requirements but insisted that the pro-life group obtain insurance in order to display its exhibit, despite the school's lack of a written policy to that effect. The club experienced similar space restrictions and was again required to purchase insurance for a subsequent event in April 2006.
ADF litigation counsel Heather Gebelin Hacker believes Arizona State University has singled out ASU Students for Life for discriminatory treatment. The school allows other groups, even some with a reputation for provocative demonstrations, to display on campus without burdening those groups with a lot of fees and restrictions, she notes, and once ASU even permitted PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to erect a display that equated farm animal slaughter with the Holocaust.
"Clearly, that's very controversial," Hacker observes, "but, to my knowledge, they were not required to have insurance in that case." While not sure of all the details of ASU's dealings with groups like PETA, she says evidence "definitely shows that there have been many other controversial exhibits or controversial groups allowed on campus, and here they have applied this rule to a pro-life group, basically attempting to stifle their speech."
Meanwhile, the ADF-affiliated lawyer asserts, ASU seems quite willing to accommodate the pro-abortion message on its campus. "This past school year there was a celebration of Roe v. Wade by the feminist group," she notes, "so it's a case of the university allowing one point of view and not the pro-life point of view on the subject. And we believe that's a violation of the Constitution."
Last week, ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of ASU Students for Life. Hacker, who is representing the pro-lifers, says no other student groups were required to obtain insurance before sharing their messages. "Colleges and universities cannot treat pro-life students differently than they treat other students," she insists. "Unfortunately, that's exactly what Arizona State did."
The university relied on "unwritten and unequally applied policies in their attempts to prevent ASU Students for Life from exercising their First Amendment Rights," the attorney contends. She says by forcing the club's members to pay for insurance in order to exercise free-speech rights guaranteed to them under the First Amendment, the university violated the pro-life students' constitutional rights.
"Free speech should not have a price tag," Hacker adds. She notes that ADF has successfully defended situations involving pro-life displays on other university campuses, including the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston.
