“. . . referring to a silent offer to pray as ‘solicitation’ is not fair. It’s a very different circumstance than someone coming on campus to solicit, say, a new textbook to students without permission.”For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
-- Emily Jashinsky, Young Americans for Freedom
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-- From "Clemson official tells praying man to leave because it’s not a ‘free speech area’" by Kate Irby, McClatchy, Charlotte Observer 8/31/16
Kyra Palange was walking across Clemson’s campus last Thursday afternoon when she saw a man sitting in a folding chair, with an empty chair sitting next to him.
The Clemson grad student walked closer to him and saw a sign on the empty chair that said “PRAYER,” according to the Young America’s Foundation [YAF].
“I approached him and we sat down to pray for a few minutes,” Palange told Young America’s Foundation. “When we finished, a man from the university approached us and said he could not be praying there because it was not a ‘designated free speech area’ and presented the person who was praying with a form for the procedures for applying for ‘solicitation’ on campus. He told him he had to leave.”
Palange captured part of the interaction on video. In it, a Clemson University official identified as Shawn Jones confirms to Palange that the entire campus is not a “free speech area.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Clemson University Blocks Prayer For Being Outside ‘Free Speech Zone’" by Blake Neff, Reporter, Daily Caller 8/29/16
The school is defending [Shawn Jones], arguing it would actually have violated the Constitution to not stop the man’s prayer.
“With him not being a student or faculty or staff, he has to go through the proper procedures in order to [do this] … this is not a designated free speech area,” Jones says in the video.
The praying man, [Clemson spokesman Mark] Land said, was not affiliated with a campus group, and he was allegedly soliciting because he had put up a sign inviting passersby to join him in prayer. Land also argued that the school’s action was directly in accordance with the Constitution, because the school was not giving the man a special exception from school policy because of the content of his speech.
. . . Clemson has been accused of having overly restrictive free speech policies. The school has a Red Light rating (the lowest) from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which rates schools on their free speech policies.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Clemson issues statement about prayer on campus" by Scottie Kay Auton, WSPA-TV7 (Spartanburg, SC) 8/30/16
. . . staff member [Shawn Jones] approached the man and told him what the policies were and that he needed to fill out paperwork.
The man was polite and filled out the necessary papers, but the student [Kyra Palange] who was praying with him got extremely upset.
The staff member told the man that he could continue to sit and pray as long as he would remove his sign.
The staff member also told the man that if he wanted to put up a sign and invite a gathering, he would need to reserve one of the areas of campus designated as available to the public.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Man praying at Clemson U. stopped by campus official: ‘Not a designated free speech area’" by Jennifer Kabbany, Editor, The College Fix 8/29/16
WeRoar Clemson, a group of students dedicated to fighting for First Amendment rights on campus, has identified the man as a well-known local “who prays with students in the community.”
“Free Speech zones were ended at Clemson in 2006 for students, but this policy remains in effect for non-students,” the group stated on Facebook. “Clemson University is a public university that receives taxpayer funds, therefore it must comply fully with the law of the land, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Clemson has failed its duty to uphold constitutional liberty.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
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