Pomona : Flyer Removal Prohibited

Following complaints that campus-approved flyers for two alternative magazines at Cal Poly Pomona were being torn down by faculty and staff, the school’s president has issued a directive prohibiting such actions.

“Such acts are tantamount to vandalism . . . and subject to appropriate disciplinary action,” President Bob H. Suzuki wrote in a memo last week. “I am asking the campus community to be tolerant of differing points of view and to respect the rights of others to express themselves.

“While I recognize that certain materials may be quite offensive or even insulting to people, the appropriate way to counteract such materials is through discourse, criticism and the expression of contrary points of view,” Suzuki wrote.

The president’s actions stem from complaints by staff members of Low and Grotesque magazines and SCOPE, a campus organization that sponsors forums on issues ranging from pornography to socialism.

Earlier this month, the students enlisted the First Amendment Coalition, a civil rights group, to protest what they saw as a campaign to limit their freedom of speech. University officials have denied there was any policy to tear down the posters.