When Free Speech Is Attacked at Public Universities — Transcript

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1. 0:03- [Narrator] This is the story
2. 0:04of an American college student,
3. 0:06Bernadette, and her friend, Jesus.
4. 0:09Like most college students,
5. 0:11Bernadette and Jesus take classes, study for exams,
6. 0:14and pursue activities on campus outside of the classroom,
7. 0:18things like sports, clubs, and also talking with students
8. 0:22about ideas that they believe in.
9. 0:24Ideas like freedom of speech, freedom of expression,
10. 0:28and also the idea that babies are people
11. 0:31with inherent rights, like the right to life.
12. 0:34You see, Bernadette and Jesus
13. 0:36are what we would call pro-life
14. 0:39and they are members of the student club
15. 0:41Fresno State Students for Life.
16. 0:43So one bright, sunny day in May,
17. 0:45Bernadette and Jesus did what many students
18. 0:47at Fresno State University do,
19. 0:50they chalked messages explaining their beliefs
20. 0:53on the sidewalk near the library
21. 0:55on the campus of Fresno State,
22. 0:57a public university funded by taxpayer dollars.
23. 1:02Bernadette's and Jesus' messages said things like,
24. 1:05"Love them both, choose life."
25. 1:07And, "Pregnant?
26. 1:08"Need help?
27. 1:09"Call 800-712-HELP."
28. 1:13And, quoting Dr. Seuss,
29. 1:15"A person is a person, no matter how small."
30. 1:19Scandalous, right?
31. 1:21Now, before Bernadette and Jesus
32. 1:23wrote their life-affirming messages,
33. 1:26they received permission from university officials,
34. 1:29so they were in the clear.
35. 1:31Well, not so fast.
36. 1:33On that bright, sunny day in May,
37. 1:35an assistant professor of public health at Fresno State,
38. 1:38Greg Thatcher, stopped them.
39. 1:40When Bernadette told him she had permission,
40. 1:43he announced that he would return shortly
41. 1:45and erase the messages.
42. 1:47And that's exactly what he did.
43. 1:49Assistant Professor Thatcher instructed students
44. 1:52in his 8:00 a.m. class to join him
45. 1:54in defacing and erasing the pro-life messages.
46. 1:58One of his students even stole Bernadette's and Jesus' chalk
47. 2:02to write pro-abortion messages on the sidewalk.
48. 2:06When Bernadette confronted them,
49. 2:08Assistant Professor Thatcher again informed Bernadette
50. 2:11that she had no right to chalk messages
51. 2:13on the sidewalk near the library
52. 2:15and Bernadette, again, informed him
53. 2:18that she had received official university permission.
54. 2:22In response, Assistant Professor Thatcher
55. 2:24personally erased the life-affirming messages
56. 2:27and proclaimed that quote,
57. 2:29"College campuses are not free speech areas.
58. 2:34"Free speech is free speech in the free speech area.
59. 2:38"It's a pretty simple concept," he said.
60. 2:40Fresno State doesn't have a free speech area.
61. 2:44It is a free speech area.
62. 2:46Like, all of it.
63. 2:49You see, people like Assistant Professor Thatcher
64. 2:52don't like that the Constitution
65. 2:53protects speech that they disagree with.
66. 2:56And that's okay.
67. 2:58What's not okay is that Assistant Professor Thatcher,
68. 3:01a government official, acted to prevent students
69. 3:05from engaging in speech that he disagrees with.
70. 3:08Which is why they asked for help
71. 3:10from Alliance Defending Freedom.
72. 3:13Thatcher was sued in federal court in California
73. 3:16and it did not go well for Assistant Professor Thatcher.
74. 3:20The court prohibited him from interfering
75. 3:22with Fresno State Students for Life's expressive activities
76. 3:26and from directing other students to do so.
77. 3:29As a result, to this day Fresno State Students for Life
78. 3:33are able to share their life-affirming messages
79. 3:36with other students and Assistant Professor Thatcher
80. 3:39can't do anything about it.
81. 3:42The end.
82. 3:46As part of the settlement, Assistant Professor Thatcher
83. 3:49was ordered to pay legal fees and damages
84. 3:51to Bernadette and Jesus,
85. 3:53and undergo First Amendment training.
86. 3:56While Bernadette and Jesus won their case,
87. 3:59threats to free speech are happening on college campuses.
88. 4:03And Bernadette Jesus made a difference that day.
89. 4:06An expectant mother who saw the sidewalk messages
90. 4:09talked to the club and decided to keep her baby.