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The U.S. Justice Department has filed a statement of interest backing a lawsuit against Pierce College over its "free speech zone," which the suit says in fact limits free speech on campus. The Justice Department brief says that this zone represents only 616 square feet and that limiting student expressive activities to that zone, with additional rules as well, effectively squelches expression protected by the First Amendment. The suit was brought by a student whom administrators stopped from passing out Spanish-language copies of the U.S. Constitution. Pierce, which is part of the Los Angeles Community College District, has not responded to the Justice Department statement. Generally, courts have given public colleges some leeway on limiting the time and place of student protests and other activities, but have rejected severe limitations.
