Sometimes, explained Sigmund Freud, a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes, it’s the First Amendment.
Craven Community College recently banned all tobacco products on campus.
Craven Community College sneaked an unconstitutional prior restraint rule in its tobacco-free campus policy this spring, and administrators appear unwilling to revise the problematic provision.
Included with the college’s ban on cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco on campus property is a declaration that student publications may not publish ads for tobacco products and student groups can’t accept money or gifts from tobacco companies. While this arrangement may sound palatable to some antismoking advocates, it violates students’ First Amendment right to free speech and free association.
Student newspapers are shielded from administrative censorship by an impressive and ever-growing body of constitutional case law. Colleges may not choose which advertisements their campus papers may accept. Federal courts have struck down a Michigan community college’s ban on ads for a nude dance club in its student paper and ruled that state officials in Pennsylvania couldn’t oust ads for alcoholic beverages.
As a former CCC student and former college newspaper editor, I was appalled to learn that a public health initiative had been misused to prohibit protected speech. I wrote to Dr. Catherine Chew, the college president, and Kathy Beal, a vice president, on Aug. 26.
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