The College Fix

Golden West College sued over alleged free speech violations

A federal lawsuit has been filed against a California community college alleging administrators are infringing on conservative students’ free speech rights by telling them to tame their criticisms of hot-button topics such as Hamas and illegal immigration.

The Young America’s Foundation student activists filed the lawsuit against Golden West College, located in the Republican stronghold of Huntington Beach.

Student activists Matin Samimiat and Annaliese Hutchings allege administrators have threatened them with disciplinary actions if they continue to use extreme language to discuss controversial topics with peers.

The conflict began when Hutchings and Samimiat, an Iranian-born student, expressed controversial political opinions at Golden West’s Club Expo in late February.

Their YAF booth displayed a whiteboard that read: “CHANGE MY MIND!!! • It is a privilege to be an American and we should all be thankful for it. • Illegal immigration is a cancer upon any society in the world. • Men do not belong in women’s sports and spaces.”

In response, Samimiat received an email from College Disciplinary Officer Stephanie Smallshaw stating, “My office received several reports regarding Club Expo and some messaging on a white board at your booth. I would like to schedule a meeting so that we can discuss.”

They scheduled a meeting for March 20, and one week prior displayed a whiteboard at the “Goldchella” college preview day event with similar statements, including the phrase “Hamas is a terrorist organization, and they must be wiped from the face of the earth.”

During the meeting with Smallshaw, she allegedly threatened them with disciplinary action, claiming their statements were offensive and potentially incited harm and a call to violence.

Although Samimiat offered to adjust the language of the group’s messages without changing their views, the suit contends, Smallshaw allegedly gave no explicitly clear guidance on what speech would be acceptable.

“I left Iran to enjoy the amazing freedom that the United States offers. Now I find myself threatened with punishment for expressing political opinions—because they happen to be opinions that administrators don’t like,” Samimiat said in a statement provided to The College Fix.

Alan Gura, an Institute for Free Speech attorney representing the students, argues in the complaint that the college’s disciplinary policies are unclear, overly broad, and biased against conservative viewpoints, which violates the students’ First Amendment rights.

The two students are not going to try and recruit new students or engage with peers “for fear of having disciplinary proceedings initiated against them, and for being sanctioned under the Student Disciplinary Code, owing to Smallshaw’s threats and to the continuing existence of the Code’s prohibition of ‘hateful behavior aimed at a specific person or group of people,’” the lawsuit alleged.

The students “are unsure as to what speech, exactly, would land them in trouble with Smallshaw or any other College Disciplinary Officer under the Code, as they cannot guess as to where officials would draw the line as to what is ‘hateful,’ … what counts as ‘infliction of mental harm,’ and what language ‘demeans, degrades, or disgraces any person’ in an official’s view,” it added.

The complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting enforcement of the school’s rules as well as a declaration that the school’s disciplinary code is unconstitutional, according to a YAF spokesperson.

Golden West College did not respond to requests from The College Fix for comment.

“College is supposed to be a place where students can engage with different ideas. Instead, Golden West College is teaching students that certain widely-held political opinions are off-limits—and that merely expressing these opinions is somehow ‘harmful,’” Hutchings said in a statement provided to The College Fix.

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IMAGE CAPTIONS & CREDIT: Pictures of the Golden West College students’ displays that caused controversies among students / YAF lawsuit complaint screenshots

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