University of Colorado at Boulder: Suppression of Affirmative Action Bake Sale

At the University of Colorado at Boulder, the College Republicans and the Equal Opportunity Alliance were informed by administrators that they would not be permitted to hold an affirmative action bake sale because, CU claimed, the students would be engaging in discrimination. FIRE Legal Network Attorney Robert Corry quickly stepped in, informing CU that he would be filing for an injunction on Tuesday at noon to force the university not to abridge the students' First Amendment rights. The planned bake sale was a political protest, not an exercise in discrimination. Under threat of court action, CU quickly agreed to settle the issue, agreeing to allow the bake sale as long as they charged only "suggested prices" and use race only as a "plus factor" in determining the price. The students consented and held the event, although at the sale itself other students who opposed the protest attempted to silence it, vandalizing the booth and tearing down signs.