E-mail cannot be used "for the creation or distribution of any disruptive or offensive messages, including offensive comments about race, gender, hair color, disabilities, age, sexual orientation, pornography, religious beliefs and practice, political beliefs, or national origin."
There it is, in writing: Restrictions on witnessing Christian faith.
-- From "Grambling State University Bans Political E-Mails, Cites State Law"
by Stephen Clark, FoxNews.com 9/22/10
In July, the university notified students and faculty members of the ban.
"Individuals who receive political campaign solicitations via university email are advised to delete these emails upon receipt," the school's office of media relations wrote in an e-mail obtained by FIRE [Foundation for Individual Rights in Education].
Grambling State is not the first university to ban political activity. During the 2008 election cycle, the University of Oklahoma banned "the forwarding of political humor and commentary" via e-mail and the University of Illinois prohibited political buttons, T-shirts, bumper stickers and campaign literature. Both backed down under pressure from FIRE.
In the letter to GSU President Frank Pogue, FIRE argued that a public university cannot prohibit political speech by students and faculty members.
"GSU's inexact prohibition of student and faculty speech goes significantly beyond what is required by state law," the letter reads. "In so doing, GSI unconstitutionally violates the right to free speech in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, a right which GSU, a public university, is required to uphold."
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From "University bans political e-mails" by Bob Unruh © 2010 WorldNetDaily 9/21/10
The school today told WND that legal advisers were working on a statement, but it was not ready.
FIRE officials said they explained the Louisiana Constitution, which provides that even a member of the most restricted class of state employees may "exercise his right as a citizen to express his opinion privately."
The organization argued that "there is little chance that a reasonable person would assume that the sender is speaking on behalf of the university."
"The only thing worse than GSU's blanket ban on political e-mails is the school's erroneous claim that it is required to do so under state law," said Will Creeley, FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy.
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