This story says that Cincinnati State Technical and Community College recently paid $75,000 to three initiative petitioners, to settle a lawsuit filed by the petitioners. The petitioners were arrested for petitioning without permission. Cincinnati State Technical and Community College is a public institution. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the link.
Awesome! I wish I had gotten some help to be able to sue the times I got falsely arrested for petitioning, and/or illegally run out of locations while petitioning, including colleges.
This is a terrible decision. Hopefully it will be reversed on appeal. Disrupting official business is never ok, and should carry severe penalties, such as being caned in front of the student cafeteria at noon on a busy weekday.
I hope this is a lesson to big institutions around the country that the right for freedom of speech should not be restrained, even if big business doesn’t like the message
Hopefully to be overruled on appeal.