Turning Point USA (TPUSA) v. Macomb Community College

A Michigan federal court dismissed an action after a community college in Michigan reached a settlement agreement with several students and a student organization who alleged that the college and officials at the college violated their rights to free speech and equal protection. The students and the organization brought the lawsuit after campus police allegedly stopped the students from talking with other students at an open area on campus about fossil fuels and from offering “educational literature about the benefits of fossil fuels to human flourishing” and collecting signatures to support fossil fuels. The campus police allegedly told the students that their expressive activities required approval by college administrators. The settlement agreement provided that the college would not enforce the advance permission requirements of its expressive activity policy for students and would undertake a revision of the policy. The college also agreed to pay $10,000 to Alliance Defending Freedom for the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs.