Court Upholds University's Facilities Use Policy

In Rock for Life- UMBC v. Hrabowski, (D MD, July 8, 2009), a Maryland federal district court rejected claims by a student anti-abortion group that its 1st and 14th Amendment rights were violated by university restrictions on the location of a display sponsored by the group. The challenge to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Policy on Facilities Use was filed after disputes over where on campus for the group's "Genocide Awareness" photo mural exhibit could be set up. During the course of the litigation, the University modified its policy. This led the court to dismiss as moot plaintiff's facial challenge to the Policy. The court then moved to plaintiff's "as applied" challenge. Using standards applicable to a limited public forum, the court rejected plaintiff's 1st Amendment claim. The court concluded that the University's actions under its regulations were narrowly tailored, content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions, motivated by safety, security and traffic-flow concerns. The court also rejected plaintiff's equal protection claims.