A former professor at Santa Barbara City College has filed a lawsuit against the college over its failure to uphold her First Amendment rights after she was heckled by protesters while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
A press release revealed that former Santa Barbara City College Professor Celeste Barber is suing her former employer over its failure to let her speak during a board of trustees meeting. During a meeting, Barber was heckled by protesters after she attempted to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Breitbart News reported in January on the incident. Barber was responding to a recent policy change that ended the tradition of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before board meetings. As Barber began to recite the pledge from the podium, student protesters began to shout over her, in an attempt to drown out her voice. Professor Raenne Napoleon of Santa Barbara City College even encouraged and participated in the protest effort.
A press release from the Dhillon Law Group claims that Santa Barbara City College violated California law when they failed to prevent the protesters from disrupting Barber’s speech.
The college had recently changed its policy of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before the Board of Trustees meetings. Ms. Barber had applied to speak to the Trustees as to why they should return to the old policy of reciting the pledge. Throughout her comments, Professor Napoleon continually interrupted Barber’s prepared comments. Professor Napoleon also encouraged others in the audience to also attempt to shout down Barber’s prepared comments.
California law requires the Board of Trustees to remove those individuals who are disrupting a meeting. The Board of Trustees did not remove Prof. Napoleon, which in turn created a heckler’s veto and silenced Ms. Barber’s First Amendment right to free speech and to petition her government.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.