The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging as unconstitutional a policy that Cal State Long Beach administrators recently relied on to warn several professors that they broke campus rules when they used megaphones, bullhorns or other amplification devices during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus.
In a five-page letter sent last week, ACLU attorney Jonathan Markovitz told Patricia A. Pérez, the associate vice president of faculty affairs, that the school’s “Time, Place and Manner” Policy “very likely” violates the First Amendment and the California Constitution.
Markovitz penned the letter on behalf of CSULB professors Sabrina Alimahomed-Wilson and Jake Alimahomed Wilson, who were among at least five faculty members who last month received an email from the school warning that their conduct at a pro-Palestine protest on May 2 violated school policy.
Jeff Cook, a spokesman for the school, said the policy has been in place since 2018 and was agreed to by the California Faculty Association, which represents 29,000 educators statewide.