A federal judge issued a final order on Wednesday that directs the University of Cincinnati not to enforce an earlier campus policy on free speech that a student group had protested in a lawsuit. The lawsuit challenged restrictions that had, among other things, limited demonstrations to a small “free speech” area and set conditions on where and when groups could collect signatures on petitions.
Judge Timothy S. Black of the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati had issued an order in June saying the university’s policy violated the First Amendment and could not stand. The university submitted a revised policy in July, and Judge Black says in his new order that he anticipates that policy will stand. The final order makes permanent the ruling issued in June, and a university spokesman told the Associated Press that he knew of no plans to appeal it.
A copy of Judge Black’s final order in the case, University of Cincinnati Chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, et al., v. Gregory Williams, et al. (No. 1:12-cv-155), is available on the Web site of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an advocacy group that aided the students in filing the suit. (Mr. Williams was the university’s president at the time the lawsuit was filed; he abruptly stepped down for unspecified personal reasons on Tuesday.)