Student Files Suit After School Bans "Jesus Loves You" Valentines

Victor Skinner : Feb 19, 2019
Eagnews.org

"I have had some people say that my Jesus loves you! Valentine is the first one that they have received. Some say that they needed to know someone cared." -Polly Olsen

(Green Bay, WI)—[Eagnews.org] Valentine's Day has a special meaning for Northeast Wisconsin Technical College student Polly Olsen. (Screengrab image: Polly Olsen on Campus Reform/via YouTube)

Her late mother "taught us the importance of carrying for others" and passed out handmade Valentines with Bible verses at area nursing homes, hospitals and "wherever else we might be on Valentine's Day," Olsen told the Journal Sentinel.

Olsen has worked to carry on the tradition as a way to honor her mother's memory, but it's put her at odds with school officials who banned the religious-themed messages last year. The situation prompted Olsen to file a federal lawsuit against campus security officers, the college president, the vice president of student services and directors on the college's board alleging the school is violating her free speech rights, and she spoke to Campus Reform on the big day [last] Thursday to draw attention to highlight the religious discrimination.

She explained what happened. (Click here to watch the video)

"Last year, I was on campus and I decided, let's hand them out to people I know there or whoever happens to be in my path," she said. "About 15 minutes after being on campus a security guard came and said he couldn't accept a valentine because I was soliciting and I would have to stop."

"This was the second time it happened," she said. "It happened ... five years ago when my mom first died."

Olsen wasn't selling the cards, which contained messages including "You are special! 1 John 4:11," "God is love! 1 John 4:11," "Jesus Loves You! Romans 5:8," and "You are loved and cared for! 1 Peter 5:7."

The 29-year-old from Green Bay (resident?) insisted the US Constitution protected her right to hand out the valentines, but security and school officials argued otherwise, pointing to the college's Public Assembly Policy that designates a very small area on campus for pre-approved "picketing," "displaying of signs," or "mass distribution of literature," Olsen told the Journal Sentinel.

The school's free speech zone "would be about the size of two buses next to each other, or a little bigger if you count the road as part of it," Olsen said.

School officials also alleged some folks on campus might find the valentines offensive, she said.

The student's lawsuit, filed with the help of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, argues that restricting free speech to the tiny area—.5 percent of the campus—chokes out free speech, particularly because the Public Assembly Policy gives college officials "unfettered discretion as to whether to confer ... approval."

The lawsuit asks the court to find the college's "overly broad and vague" Public Assembly Policy unconstitutional for violating free speech rights, to prohibit college officials from imposing it on other students. Olsen is also asking for "nominal damages," court costs and other fees incurred to pursue the case, as well as "such other relief as this Court finds just and equitable."

Olsen said her ultimate goal is to ensure free speech is preserved for all students at her school, because it's already obvious the valentines are making a difference.

"I have had some people say that my Jesus loves you! Valentine is the first one that they have received," she told the Journal Sentinel. "Some say that they needed to know someone cared." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here