At the beginning of the Fall Semester, Taylor Arietta and Fight for Free Speech Veteran, Isaac Edikauskas took to the UC Merced campus with a free speech ball, hoping to spread the good word of liberty.

That was until they were stopped by an ornery campus administrator. The administrator told Isaac and Taylor, on camera, that they were not allowed to engage in their right to free speech, because they weren’t in the free speech zone. Furthermore, the administrator began telling the students that they HAD to come inside to get their speech approved before they were allowed to continue with their activities. After being threatened with arrest for refusal to comply, the team shut down their event, and called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

FIRE wrote a letter to the University saying that they either needed to work with us to reform their policies or face a similar wrath to Los Angeles Pierce College and the countless other schools across California, we have had beefs with.

After making the wiser of the two choices, the University agreed they were in the wrong and worked with the Foundation for Individual RIghts in Education and Taylor to overturn and reform the unconstitutional policies.