Law schools love to talk about preparing students for the real world — a place where constitutional arguments matter and administrative authority occasionally runs smack into the First Amendment. One student at Campbell University School of Law says his school might be getting an object lesson in both.
According to reporting from The News & Observer, Campbell Law student Justin Booker has lodged a complaint against the school after administrators removed flyers he posted around the Raleigh campus following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The posters featured images of Kirk and his family alongside the message, “End Political Violence.”
Not exactly a call to storm the barricades.
Still, the school removed the flyers and issued Booker a disciplinary warning. Administrators reportedly told him the posters violated a policy against “personal messages.” Booker says he went looking for that rule and… came up empty.
“I filed a formal complaint with the administration about this, because not only is this a free speech issue, it actually risks the law school’s accreditation,” Booker said. “It says that explicitly in ABA standards that they have to follow the First Amendment jurisprudence. So the fact that they’re not doing that, and they have explicitly refused to do that, actually is crazy.”
Booker appealed the removal of his flyers, and the disciplinary warning, to the faculty committee on student life. The committee sided with the administration. So did Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard, who affirmed the decision and upheld the poster removal.
At that point, Booker decided to escalate things by involving the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The free speech ideologues have themselves a pretty strong argument and are demanding an answer from the school’s administration by March 17th, because they’re not buying the school’s explanation.
“It’s particularly noteworthy that other political content was allowed to stay posted, as was other commercial content,” said FIRE program officer Dominic Colletti, who authored the letter to Campbell. “It’s really hard to come up with a policy-based explanation for this, other than they did not like the image of Charlie Kirk. That is the most likely explanation here and they haven’t given us another.”
For his part, Booker says he isn’t looking to burn the place down. He just wants the administration to admit they got it wrong.
“All I really want from this is for the people who did the wrong thing to admit they did wrong, promise they won’t do it again to me or anyone else, and apologize,” Booker said. “Instead, I have been brushed off, ignored, disrespected, and censored. No due process, no transparency, and no one actually willing to address my concerns.”
In a statement to The News & Observer, the university said:
“Campbell University has received a letter from FIRE, inquiring about the response to flyers posted by a student within the Campbell Law building. The letter asked for an institutional response by next week. Campbell University is currently reviewing the letter, the internal complaint and the Campbell Law student organizational communication and promotion policy. We plan to respond to FIRE after examining all relevant information.”
With FIRE demanding an explanation by next week, Campbell Law now has a chance to clarify its policies — and demonstrate that the institution charged with training future lawyers understands the constitutional principles those lawyers are supposed to defend.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
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