the school responded by passing a blanket ban on all window displays in student dormitories. ASA director Charles Nuckolls says his organization then wrote a letter informing the University of Alabama that it was violating the free-speech rights of students.
Students don't have much property right in a dorm room/building - more like hotel room guests than regular apartment tenants - and hanging things from the windows of someone else's property is quite a stretch as a free speech right. Many housing occupants - private renters, condo owners, and even residents of my tidy subdivision - have contractual restrictions on what they can have on or around their property.
IMO, the university would be legally entitled to have a universal "nothing out the windows" rule. If dorm residents don't agree with the facilities' rules, they can move out.
the school responded by passing a blanket ban on all window displays in student dormitories. ASA director Charles Nuckolls says his organization then wrote a letter informing the University of Alabama that it was violating the free-speech rights of students.
Students don't have much property right in a dorm room/building - more like hotel room guests than regular apartment tenants - and hanging things from the windows of someone else's property is quite a stretch as a free speech right. Many housing occupants - private renters, condo owners, and even residents of my tidy subdivision - have contractual restrictions on what they can have on or around their property.
IMO, the university would be legally entitled to have a universal "nothing out the windows" rule. If dorm residents don't agree with the facilities' rules, they can move out.