Cases

Hayon v. Kingsborough Community College

Summary

In 2010, Joseph Hayon, a student at Kingsborough Community College was passing out copies of Live Action’s newsletter, The Advocate, on campus, when a security officer ordered him to cease his activity. KCC officials subsequently told the student he could only distribute flyers if he reserved a table in advance, and he could not physically hand out flyers but must allow passersby to pick them up. ADF wrote KCC a demand letter, and the College changed this policy. ; ;A few weeks later, KCC officials raised a series of objections to a marriage forum Joseph was organizing, threatening to cancel this approved event at the last moment. ADF sent KCC another demand letter, and the College relented. ; ;But before the event could take place, a KCC professor threatened to unilaterally cancel the event. KCC had a policy that required the faculty advisor to attend any student group events, and this professor threatened not to attend (and thus cancel the event) unless the group agreed to his demands. When KCC refused to change this policy, ADF filed suit. After litigation commenced KCC changed this policy as well.

Links

Details

Institution: Kingsborough Community College

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Topic: Speech Zone, Freedom of Association

Intervention: Litigation

Outcome: Victory

FREE SPEECH IN DIVIDED TIMES: THE PROBLEM OR THE SOLUTION?