Table of Contents
‘Obsession’ Screening at Michigan State to Proceed
Thanks to ֭’s intervention, Michigan State University will provide free security for tonight’s screening of the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” hosted by the campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). The university originally said that YAF would have to pay the overtime wages of any officers assigned to the screening or would incur extra fines if officers responded to protests that broke out at the screening. FIREwrote to Michigan State on March 16 to stress that holding students responsible for security costs affixes a price tag to controversial expression, encourages other students to threaten violent action, and chills speech on campus because students not able to pay for added security will be forced to cancel their events. FIREcited the Supreme Court’s unequivocal decision in Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (1992) that “[s]peech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob.” Thankfully, ֭’s intervention led Michigan State to provide security guards at no charge to YAF, allowing the screening to proceed. FIREwill further press the university to reform its security policy so that it cannot be used to discriminate against groups on the basis the content of their expression.
Recent Articles
Get the latest free speech news and analysis from ֭.

Three takeaways from Harvard’s victory over the Trump administration’s funding freeze
If the government is going to punish universities for violating the law, then it must do so lawfully.

FIREstatement on ruling that Trump’s funding freeze for Harvard was unlawful
The Trump administration trampled Harvard University’s First Amendment rights and broke civil rights law when it yanked billions in federal grants and contracts over alleged Title VI violations.

New campus censorship hack turns trademark law into muzzle
Gallaudet University muzzled a student org’s social media account. Then FIREand Meta stepped in.

LAWSUIT: Texas bans the First Amendment at public universities after dark
FIREfiled a lawsuit today to stop enforcement of a new, unconstitutional law that turns every public university in Texas into speech-free zones.