PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, November 30, 2001
Contact: James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel
Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685
jboppjr@bopplaw.com, www.jamesmadisoncenter.org
 

Judge Robert J. Timlin granted David Welker's request for a preliminary injunction requiring the University of California, Irvine ("UCI") to reinstate Mr. Welker to his position on the ASUCI Legislative Counsel and to delete references to the dismissal from his student records.  Mr. Welker, who was elected to a student government position by his fellow students, was thrown out of office after it was discovered that he had spent $233.40 buying campaign posters promoting his election in violation of a university regulation that limits such spending to $100.

After Mr. Welker and two fellow undergraduate students filed suit challenging student campaign spending limits, UCI substantially revised its student elections code.  However, those revisions did 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.

The students, represented by The James Madison Center for Free Speech and the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, claim that the university's regulation of their campaign spending violates their First Amendment rights of free speech and association.
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, "It is clear from the court's opinion that any limit on student campaign spending is an unconstitutional violation of student First Amendment rights."

"The Court's opinion" added Bopp, "sends a message to public universities that regulations teaching our students that American elections are not free, but thoroughly regulated regardless of the impact on the free speech and association rights protected by the United States Constitution will not be tolerated."