The Alliance Defense Fund tried to convince officials at South Mountain Community College to abandon its new policy without going to court, but when administrators failed to respond, the organization filed suit.

Arizona schools wanted to make evangelists pay a fee and take out insurance policies before coming to campus

An Arizona community college district has abandoned plans to charge a street preacher $50 a day to come to its campuses to witness to students.

Last month, the Maricopa Community College District dropped the fee and the $1 million insurance policy requirement from its rules governing solicitation. Evangelists like Ryan Arneson, who filed suit against the school in December, now only have to give two day’s notice before they plan to come to campus.

Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund who represented Arneson in the suit, applauded the school’s decision.

“Free speech can’t come with a price tag and a burdensome waiting period,” Scruggs said in a prepared statement. “Maricopa Community College has done the right thing in changing its policy so that it respects free speech rights protected by the First Amendment. Christians visiting public college campuses shouldn’t be deterred from expressing their beliefs because of cumbersome, unconstitutional policies.”

Although Arneson and other evangelists no longer have to give two weeks notice, provide proof of insurance or pay a fee-all conditions imposed by the school in 2010-they still must confine themselves to an area of the campus dedicated for speech and literature distribution.

The community college system’s policy encourages campus administrators to designate an area in prominent locations likely to have significant pedestrian traffic. But it also allows school officials to make exceptions in light of “campus capacity” and other scheduled events.

Arneson began visiting South Mountain Community College, in southern Phoenix, in 2009 to hand out tracts and talk to students about Jesus. For the next 18 months, Arneson came back to the campus regularly and never had any problems with the students or school officials. During those visits, administrators escorted him to a table in front of the library where he could easily interact with students and visitors making their way across campus.

But in January 2011, when Arneson again requested permission to visit the school during the upcoming semester, administrators told him the school had a new solicitation policy.

The Alliance Defense Fund tried to convince officials at South Mountain Community College to abandon its new policy without going to court, but when administrators failed to respond, the organization filed suit.

In a similar case in Southern California last year, the Life Legal Defense Foundation reached a mediated settlement with Cypress College in a case involving pro-life group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. The community college agreed to revise its restrictive speech policy and pay the group’s legal bills.

@Copyright 2012 WORLD Magazine – Used with permission