News & Media

Southeastern Louisiana University: Christian speaker needs permit to share faith

NEW ORLEANS — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed suit against Southeastern Louisiana University officials Tuesday after they denied a Christian speaker the right to hand out tracts, display banners, and share the Gospel in an area of the campus reserved for outside speakers.  Campus police told the man that he needed to apply for a permit, even though other speakers have been allowed in the past to distribute literature and speak on their beliefs without one.

“Christian speakers shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs on public university campuses,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum.  “Southeastern Louisiana University should not restrict Christian speakers from sharing their faith on campus.  So much for universities being touted as a marketplace of ideas.”

When Jeremy Sonnier and three friends arrived at SLU to engage in conversation with others about their faith at a campus location where outside speakers are approved to speak, campus police insisted that he must go through a permit process first.  School officials stated a permit application must be filed seven days in advance and that--once a permit is granted--outside speakers are allowed a two-hour block of time every seven days to speak.  Applicants could also be required to pay a fee, divulge their Social Security number, and submit other information for permission to speak.

Most of the university campus is open to the public and blends into the surrounding community--complete with grassy knolls, pedestrian malls, public ways, and park areas with benches and tables--making it quite suitable for expression and the free exchange of ideas.  However, the school’s speech policy instituted in 2004 bars Sonnier’s religious message, in direct violation of his constitutional rights.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.  Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.