Student, anti-abortion group sue Texas college
By The Associated Press
02.05.02
HOUSTON — A student and an anti-abortion group are suing the University of Houston for alleged free-speech violations, claiming the school refused to allow them to display pictures of dead fetuses in high-trafficked areas of campus.
"The First Amendment is intended to protect unpopular speech because popular speech doesn't have to be protected," said Benjamin Bull, a Phoenix attorney representing UH student Jeanne S. Tullos and the student group she leads, Pro-Life Cougars.
"The University of Houston knew what was in the display, and because they considered it politically incorrect, they banned it off to the Siberia of the campus," Bull told the Houston Chronicle on Feb. 2.
UH spokesman Mike Cinelli said the content of the pictures had nothing to do with the university's decision.
In the lawsuit filed last month in a Houston federal court, the students demand that UH officials allow them to display the pictures in a specific area on campus. They're also seeking unspecified monetary damages and attorney fees.
Cinelli said the university has "free-speech zones" that allow students to have demonstrations and displays on campus, but the sites requested by the group for a November demonstration were not in those zones.
The university suggested two sites in "free-speech zones," but the student group refused them.