Preacher Sues Kentucky University For Access To Campus

The Lexington (KY) Herald Leader yesterday reported that an evangelical preacher from Symsonia, Kentucky last week filed a federal lawsuit against Murray State University because it is requiring him to have sponsorship of a student organization before he can preach at the University's Curris Center for Student Life. Brother Jim Gilles, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (press release), says that the University is arbitrarily enforcing its speaker policy, after permitting him in the past to speak anywhere on campus. The complaint (full text) says that the university's policy operates as a prior restraint on speech and religious activity and denies Gilles equal protection of the laws. Gilles, who says he found God in 1981 while attending a Van Halen concert, speaks at universities and state capitals across the country.