Well, That Was Quick

It seems like only yesterday that FIRE broke the news that Seminole Community College (SCC) in Florida was preventing a student from passing out PETA literature at a table in an area where “tabling” regularly occurs—and insisting that the only place for freedom of speech on the college’s campus was an out-of-the-way “free speech zone.”

It was only yesterday.

Give SCC credit for a quick turnaround. In a letter faxed to FIRE only about six hours after FIRE’s press release went out yesterday, SCC reversed its decision and allowed student Eliana Campos to do exactly what FIRE had been asking—and the college agreed to create a committee that would recommend changes to the college’s free speech and assembly procedures as well. In the meantime, it seems awfully unlikely that any more censorship of this type will go on at SCC, whether it’s of this PETA or this one. For anyone who doubts that FIRE’s practice of taking a principled stand for freedom of expression is effective, well, doubt no more.