Public college pays censored students $330,000, changes policies to protect officials from liability

A year after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to throw out a First Amendment lawsuit against a public college that banned pro-life and anticommunist flyers by a student group, the parties have reached a settlement.

The State Center Community College District agreed to pay $330,000, adopt a new posting policy and "provide annual documented First Amendment training to all managers," the first of which in December must be done by "qualified outside counsel," the settlement agreement says. 

It must show the training materials to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represents the students and Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Clovis Community College who sued the school and district, and "certify to FIRE the number of people that attended" the 2024 and 2025 trainings.

The payment is broken down into $250,000 in attorney's fees for FIRE and $20,000 each for individual plaintiffs – Daniel and Alejandro Flores, Juliette Colunga and the YAF chapter.

A permanent injunction and order says Clovis's poster policy violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the individual defendants violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights by enforcing the policy against their flyers, and that the district is permanently blocked from enforcing "any unlawful viewpoint-discriminatory, overbroad, or vague regulation, or prior restraint, on the content of the speech of recognized student clubs, including but not limited to bans on 'inappropriate' or 'offensive' language."

The 9th Circuit, long known as the most liberal among federal appellate courts, said the poster policy was too broad and vague to pass constitutional muster.

It found the case was not moot because officials "could easily reinsert the challenged provision" if the preliminary injunction were lifted and they have "refused to disavow" the original policy as unconstitutional.

Obtained emails show President Lori Bennett and others devised a pretextual rationale to justify removal of the anticommunist flyers and then prohibit the pro-life flyers, with one even telling another "[p]lease don't share this email." Officials were facing the prospect of losing qualified immunity and suffering personal liability in district court when the case was remanded.

Clovis announced Bennett's pending retirement in April 2022, six months after approving the poster removal and four months before the lawsuit was filed. The old flyer policy had been blocked since October 2022.

"The court determined that a few words in the prior Clovis Community College flyer posting procedure needed to be changed. In response, SCCCD updated its policy to apply to all campuses," district spokesperson Jill Wagner wrote in an email without answering why the settlement took a year to reach.

"A settlement was reached to avoid the cost, uncertainty and distractions that come with any litigation," the statement reads. "SCCCD is committed to upholding the values of the First Amendment and we look forward to ensuring that all members of our community recognize the virtues and benefits of free speech."

FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner said the settlement means "student groups won’t have to second guess or jump through hoops just to hang a flyer on the bulletin board" and "administrators will defer to the First Amendment."

Young America's Foundation President and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker warned public college officials not to violate its student members' rights "or you could end up in court-ordered First Amendment training like the administrators at Clovis College."