PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Contact: James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel
Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685
jboppjr@bopplaw.com

 

University of California, Irvine, Revises Its Elections Code
After The James Madison Center for Free Speech Files Suit
to Protect Students' First Amendment Rights in Campus Elections.
 

In what can only be seen as a victory for the students, the University of California, Irvine ("UCI") substantially revised its Elections Code after The James Madison Center and The Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed suit, on behalf of three UCI undergraduate students, challenging those portions of the UCI Elections Code which they believe violate their First Amendment rights of free speech and association.

Shortly after the students filed suit, UCI repealed most of the unconstitutional provisions, including those banning all campaigning for 24 hours after a declaration of candidacy has been filed, banning all off campus distribution of campaign materials, banning all off campus campaigning during elections week, and banning candidates from placing campaign bumper stickers and posters on motor vehicles.

Still, UCI's revisions do not address all of the students' concerns. Prior to the revisions, students running for student government positions on the Legislative Counsel were subject to a $100 spending limit and a $50 aggregate donation limit while students running for student government positions in the Executive Cabinet were subject to a $300 spending limit and a $100 aggregate donation limit. After the revisions, students running for Legislative Counsel positions are subject to a $200 limit on both spending and aggregate donations and students running for Executive Cabinet are subject to a $500 limit on both spending and aggregate donations. Thus, the students will continue with their case.

According to James Bopp, Jr, General Counsel to The James Madison Center, a conservative public interest organization that defends the rights of citizens to participate in our democracy, "While UCI has taken a giant step toward protecting the constitutional rights of its student candidates, those changes don't go far enough as the spending and aggregate donation limits continue to trample on students' First Amendment rights of free speech and association." "Thus," says Bopp, "although we are happy with this partial victory, the fight will continue until UCI's regulation of student speech comports fully with the protections of the First Amendment."