In Fall of 2020, YAL’s Director of Free Speech sent letters to dozens of schools across the country informing them that they had speech codes that violated the First Amendment and that, if enforced, these codes could hold the school liable for civil rights violations. Administrators at Midwestern State University very quickly reached out to...Read More

Before YAL launched its Hazlitt Action program in 2021, YAL activists were already working to support legislation that would directly impact their lives on college campuses. Senate Bill 40 in Ohio was FORUM Act legislation that protected students from bureaucratic overreach like Free Speech Zones and prior-permission permits. YAL activists showed up in Columbus to...Read More

In March of 2021, YAL South Dakota State Chair Anton Mirzayants performed one of the quickest policy changes to date. When Mirzayants was informed by YAL’s Free Speech Director JP Kirby that there were poor policies on BHSU’s campus, but no YAL members there to help change it, Mirzayants immediately began recruiting the next Free...Read More

YAL State Chair Naomi Mathew had earned herself a reputation on her home campus of Truman State University for being a watchdog for free speech. In 2019, Mathew, a committed vegan, attempted to start a PETA club on campus and was denied for unconstitutional reasons. Mathew worked with FIRE to change the school’s club recognition...Read More

In the Spring of 2020, YAL partnered with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) to target and remove as many unconstitutional speech policies with letters from the law firm. These “demand letters” would inform the school of the unconstitutionality of the policies and question and demand the policies be changed. In April 2020 Salisbury student, and...Read More

Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, CT had a solicitation policy that prohibited students from speaking or assembling on campus without going to the student life office to “sign-in.” These permit and sign-in policies were often used by campuses to limit speech to which administrators don’t take kindly. YAL Chapter President, Amy Ozols, and YAL’s Connecticut...Read More

Chapter President Adrian Arevalo joined YAL on his campus in February 2019. When joining he cited “freedom of speech” as the main issue he cared about. Later that same month Adrian was informed by YAL’s Free Speech Director that Northwest Vista’s campus solicitation policy was written in a way that interfered with speech that’s protected...Read More

In February 2020, students at Towson University in Maryland were informed that their school had speech policies requiring all students to get advance permission before assembling on campus. That month, YAL member C.J. Whitlock held a free speech ball event with members of YAL’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Leadership Team. One month later, in March, Alliance Defending...Read More

On February 26, 2019, Chapter President Mike Brown and YAL State Chair Mitch Strider held a Free Speech Ball event on the campus of Jones County Junior College. Within minutes the pair of free speech activists were stopped and told they must ask permission from the school in order to continue their expressive activity. Almost...Read More

The year 2020, in general, was exhausting for everyone across the country, but for the campus and state leaders of Vermont, some of that exhaustion paid off. Chapter president Ian Dennis had been approached by YAL leadership in early 2019 and asked if he was aware of the policies on his campus that restricted free...Read More