Texas Students Punished for Dorm-Room Obama Signs - NYTimes.com

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-University-Political-Signs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The University of Texas has barred two students  
from registering for spring classes after they refused to take down  
political signs from their dormitory window.

Connor Kincaid and his cousin and roommate, Blake Kincaid, said they  
were told by a UT staff member during an administrative hearing  
Wednesday to take down their signs supporting Democratic presidential  
candidate Barack Obama.

''This is an important free speech issue,'' said Connor Kincaid, a 20- 
year-old junior who claimed during the administrative hearing that he  
saw a sign supporting Republican candidate John McCain in the window  
of another dorm.

The university says the dispute has nothing to do with either  
candidate. UT has had a policy for more than 10 years forbidding the  
posting of signs in dorm windows in order to control the look of the  
campus and avoid the appearance that the university is supporting any  
candidate, said Jeff Graves, an associate vice president for UT legal  
affairs.

He said he wasn't aware of a prior case of a student facing an  
administrative hearing on the issue.

University Democrats and Republicans are working together to fight  
rules they say are unconstitutional. They said they were encouraging  
students across campus to put signs in their dorm windows as a form of  
protest to force the university to hold thousands of hearings.


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