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April 20, 2007

ACLU weighs in for URI's College Republicans

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The American Civil Liberties Union has weighed in on the side of the College Republicans in the dispute over the ad for a “White Male Heterosexual Scholarship” at the University of Rhode Island.

In a two-page letter dated April 19, the ACLU urges the URI Student Senate to halt its efforts to force the Republican club to apologize for the ad or face “de-recognition” by the university.

The First Amendment “simply does not allow the Student Senate to require the College Republicans” to make statements they do not want to make, wrote Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the ACLU.

The Republican club’s ad ran last fall in the college newspaper. The club accepted applications but its chairman, Ryan Bilodeau, said this week that the goal was to make a statement against affirmative action, not to award any money.

-- Journal Staff Writer Randall Edgar

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:05 PM | Permalink

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