A lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on behalf of Oregon State University students claims the University violated students’ First Amendment rights by confiscating seven distribution bins for the  independent student newspaper, “The Liberty.”
 
The students also accuse the President of OSU, Ed Ray, as well as other administrators, of discrimination. The ADF said that by allowing the staff of the university's main student-run newspaper, “The Daily Barometer,” to place their distribution bins all over campus while limiting their paper  to specific areas of the student union, the administration has violated constitutional rights of free speech, due process, and equal protection.
 
The controversy arose after distribution bins of “The Liberty” were thrown out in what OSU officials claim was an effort to help beautify the campus. Publications of The Daily Barometer, however, were not included in the campus restoration.
 
The editorial staff of The Liberty has been publishing the newspaper since 2002. The administration granted The Liberty permission to place distribution bins around the OSU campus in 2005.
   
Heather Gebelin Hacker, an attorney with the ADF, suggested that OSU might have had another motive for their actions against The Liberty.
   
"In this case, it seems like these students have viewpoints that aren't favored by the university, and they are being treated differently because of that," she said.  Alliance Defense Fund is a Christian legal firm currently involved in multiple lawsuits against colleges and universities. 

The school will have until October 26th to respond before the case goes to trial.

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