The ACLU of Ohio is challenging The Ohio State University’s ban on campus chalking, arguing the policy violates the First Amendment and was implemented in response to political messages involving Israel and Palestine.
In a letter to OSU, the ACLU called on the university to rescind its ban on chalking, which prohibits chalked messages across campus and allows students responsible for chalking to potentially face conduct referrals.
David Carey, managing legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said the organization became concerned after learning that OSU had prohibited chalking throughout campus.
“Chalking is a frequently used form of communication among students,” Carey told the Cleveland Jewish News. “It serves a whole broad variety of purposes ranging from political messages to student government to recruitment for student activities to any number of other things.”
Carey said chalking offers students a way to communicate with a broad audience in public spaces while being temporary because messages can eventually be washed away by rain.
“OSU prohibited all chalking across campus, which seemed like a pretty drastic move, and we became aware that there was some concern that they were doing it in order to target a particular political viewpoint,” Carey said.
The ACLU subsequently submitted public records requests to OSU to examine the circumstances surrounding the policy.
According to Carey, the records led the organization to conclude that the university’s decision to prohibit chalking came in response to complaints about pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist messages on campus.
“People have been complaining that they found those messages offensive, and the university responded by banning chalking altogether,” Carey said.
The ACLU argues that banning a method of expression in response to the political viewpoint or content of particular messages violates First Amendment protections at a public university.
Carey also said records obtained by the organization raised concerns about how Ohio State has enforced the policy.
“The public record requests turned up substantial evidence that OSU is applying their ban on chalking unevenly,” Carey said. “They appear not to be enforcing it in at least some instances where they approve of the messages that are being chalked, and that in itself is also of serious concern.”
OSU’s policy states that chalking is not permitted on campus and that facilities operations and development will remove chalking. The department also reserves the right to charge for repairs required because of removal. Students found responsible may be subject to a conduct referral.
In a statement to the CJN, Benjamin Johnson, OSU’s senior associate vice president and chief communications officer, said the university remains committed to protecting expression on campus.
“The university is committed to protecting free speech and expression on our campuses, and we support the right of students, faculty and staff to speak out about issues that are important to them,” Johnson said.
Carey emphasized that the ACLU’s involvement should not be interpreted as support for the political messages at the center of the dispute.
“The reason we sent this letter and the reason we chose to take action here has nothing to do with whatever we may think about the speech in question,” Carey said. “It’s the fact that a government institution, in this case Ohio State University, is discriminating against different categories of speech based on political viewpoints.”
Carey said the organization is neutral on Zionism and that its challenge centers on free speech protections.
“Our involvement here should not be viewed as any particular endorsement of pro-Palestine or anti-Zionist speech one way or the other,” Carey said. “Instead, our concern here is over free speech.”