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Free speech is back in style at a local high school where 14 students were stopped from wearing "Free the Jena 6" T-shirts last month. After protests from students and parents and a sharply worded letter from the ACLU of Southern California, the principal of Alta Loma High School near Rancho Cucamonga cancelled the ban.

"The ban on the 'Free the Jena 6' T-shirts is obviously unlawful," ACLU/SC staff attorney Peter Bibring wrote. Parts of the ACLU/SC's letter were read at a rally of several hundred students, teachers, and parents at the school. Principal Jim Woolery rescinded the restriction the next day.

The students were responding to the prosecution of six black high-school students after racially motivated violence broke out in Jena, Louisiana. The six were originally charged with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy. The final student was released Sept. 27 after more than 9 months in jail. White students who sparked the confrontations when they hung nooses from a tree at the high school received three-day suspensions.

The ACLU has called for Louisiana's attorney general to examine the actions of the local prosecutor, and helped the Jena 6 families arrange legal defense.

The Alta Loma rally was arranged after Principal Woolery ordered 14 students to turn their T-shirts inside out on Sept. 20, a national day of protest involving tens of thousands of people nationwide.

Under federal and state law, school administrators are allowed to limit student speech only if it poses a clear threat of causing an on-campus disruption. The principal's action failed to meet that test.

"The students' expression of their views on a national issue by wearing T-shirts supporting the Jena defendants is political speech that lies at the heart of the First Amendment's protections," wrote Bibring.

First Chapman University administrators shattered the hopes of 18 students seeking to start the first Jewish fraternity at the school. Then they tried to silence them.

The ACLU of Southern California sent a letter asking administrators of Chapman University to restore the free speech and association rights of a group of the students affiliated with Sigma Alpha Mu, a national fraternity.

In February 2006, the students had their application turned down by campus officials. Determined to change administrators' minds, the group continued to wear fraternity T-shirts and recruit members. Chapman officials responded by ordering the group halt fraternity-related events on campus and even remove a page they had created on the college social-networking website Facebook.

"The students affiliated with Sigma Alpha Mu retain their fundamental free speech rights while on the Chapman campus," ACLU/SC Orange County Director Hector Villagra wrote.

Read the ACLU/SC's letter to Chapman University on behalf of Sigma Alpha Mu-affiliated students (pdf)

ORANGE - The ACLU of Southern California is asking administrators of Chapman University to restore the free speech and association rights of a group of students affiliated with the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity on their campus.

In February 2006, a group of about 18 students who wanted to start a chapter of the national Jewish fraternity at Chapman had their application turned down by campus officials. Determined to change administrators' minds, the group continued to wear fraternity T-shirts and recruit members. Instead of winning the administrators over, Chapman officials responded by ordering the group to immediately cease advertising and/or hosting fraternity-related events on campus, 'including having students meet on university premises for off-campus events.' They were also told to remove a page they had created on the college social-networking website Facebook.

California state law protects the free speech rights of students attending public and private colleges and universities. Chapman is a private university.

In a letter sent to Chapman administrators yesterday, Hector Villagra, director of the Orange County office of the ACLU of Southern California, defended the group, pointing out that no other student or association of students has been subjected to the severe restrictions imposed on the Sigma Alpha Mu members.

'The students affiliated with Sigma Alpha Mu retain their fundamental free speech rights while on the Chapman campus,' Villagra wrote. 'I ask that you provide immediate written confirmation that (1) the restrictions on the free speech rights of students from Sigma Alpha Mu '_ have been rescinded, and (2) the records of any violations of these restrictions have been expunged.'

The two-year battle to get a Sigma Alpha Mu chapter at Chapman was started by Pascal De Maria, now a senior at the university. 'All the group wanted to do was have a positive Jewish fraternal experience, that's all - like the recognized fraternities are able to enjoy,' De Maria said. 'We respect the university's decision to not have us on campus as a recognized fraternity but we would like to be able to have a table on campus like the other groups and advertise on campus.'

Dr. Barry Resnick, an alumni adviser with the national Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity who has been working on behalf of the Chapman students, said, 'I have repeatedly brought this matter to the attention of the university's chancellor, president and chairman of board of trustees and they elected to do nothing to lift or modify the restrictions on the students' rights.'

Pascal's mother, Barbara De Maria, expressed concern that the college experiences of her son and the other members of the group have been undermined. 'The boys were humiliated and made outcasts,' she said. 'The university instructed the members of the recognized fraternities and sororities to report them for wearing their letters or congregating on campus. As a parent I was appalled at the lack of accountability within the administration.'