Student wins right to distribute valentines with Bible messages
A federal judge in Green Bay ruled Friday that Northeast Wisconsin Technical College violated the First Amendment when officials ordered a student to stop handing out Valentine’s Day cards containing messages from the Bible, including “Jesus Loves You!” and “God is Love!”
Polly Olsen, 29, a Green Bay woman studying to become a paralegal, filed a lawsuit against the college a little more than a year ago and came to the attention of President Donald Trump, who invited her to the White House in March.
On Valentine’s Day 2018, Olsen was handing out cards with Bible messages to students and staff when a campus official told her she was violating school policy and took her to the security office. Olsen has said the cards were a family tradition started by her late mother.
“There can be no doubt that in handing out her homemade valentines to her fellow students, friends and staff at NWTC, Olsen was engaged in a constitutionally protected form of expression,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge William C. Griesbach wrote in his decision.
Griesbach ruled in favor of Olsen, awarded damages of $1 and ordered that NWTC not use a school policy in order to prevent other students from handing out similar cards or messages.
The NWTC policy in question is called “Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Public Assembly.”
“While this lawsuit was personal, it was never just about me,” Olsen said in a statement. “When my First Amendment rights were violated by NWTC, I knew I had to stand up for my rights. With the court’s decision it is my hope that NWTC and colleges everywhere will work to expand and embrace, not constrict, the First Amendment rights of all students.”
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the lawsuit. The institute, sometimes referred to as a conservative law firm, describes itself as “a nonprofit, notpartisan organization” dedicated to advancing “the public interest in the rule of law, individual liberty, constitutional government and a robust civil society.” Reached Friday night, the college’s public relations and communications manager, Casey Fryda, said. “We haven’t taken a look yet“at the ruling. Fryda added that officials might have more to say Monday.
The controversy began after Olsen had already handed out about 30 cards, including two to the offices of campus staff. College security said it received a complaint and dispatched an officer to investigate a report of “suspicious activity and/or person.”
Security Supervisor Mike Jandrin told Olsen he wanted to speak about her possibly “disturbing the learning environment and walking into an area that is restricted to students without being invited or announced.”
Olsen then accused Jandrin of violating her right to free speech and discriminating against her based on her religious beliefs.
In his decision, the judge rejected the college’s claim that the case had been rendered moot by a change in the school policy cited in stopping Olsen from distributing her cards.
Griesbach wrote, “It is clear from its new policy, as well as its defenses of its actions under its old policy, that NWTC has not and has no intention of ceasing the very behavior that gave rise to Olsen’s lawsuit.”