- This is the story
of an American college student, Michelle,
and her two pals, Nathan and Isaac.
At first glance, Michelle,
Nathan, and Isaac
seem like ordinary people.
They work hard, they study,
and they hangout with their friends.
But, Michelle, Nathan, and
Isaac aren't ordinary people.
Because ordinary people
haven't been arrested
and hauled off to jail.
Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac have.
By whom?
By Kellogg Community College,
a small school in Battle Creek, Michigan.
For what?
Well, like many in the clink,
their alleged crime involved distribution.
Not of drugs, but of
little pocket-sized copies
of the U.S. Constitution.
That's right, Michelle,
Nathan, and Isaac's
life of crime began like most do,
because they love 18th
Century American history,
the Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
the Declaration of Independence.
To help other young Americans
learn about this history,
Michelle decided to start
a Young Americans for
Liberty club at Kellogg,
to educate students
about the constitution.
To let people know about this new club,
Michelle and her friends stood
on a large, public walkway at Kellogg,
a public college,
and handed out their
copies of the Constitution,
a public document.
Some students accepted
the free Constitutions,
others ignored them and kept walking.
After a while, a friendly
campus administrator walked by.
His name was Drew Hutchinson,
the Manager of Student Life.
Mr. Hutchinson informed
Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac
that they had to stop what
they were doing right away.
"Why?", the students asked.
They weren't obstructing anyone's path
or interfering with any nearby events.
"Because," Mr. Hutchinson explained,
"of the school's speech permit policy
which prohibits free speech
in any outdoor location,
and requires students to
get the school's permission
before engaging in any
expressive activity."
Mr. Hutchinson said it was his job
to protect Kellogg students, many of whom,
and he really said this,
"Are from rural areas where
they are taught to be polite
"and don't have the internet
and so may not feel comfortable
ignoring Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac."
Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac
couldn't quite follow
Mr. Hutchinson's logic.
After all, they thought, in
America, no school or person
has the right to limit freedom of speech.
It says so right in the little
pocket-sized Constitution.
So, they continued
handing out the document
to students passing by.
This made Mr. Hutchinson less friendly,
much less friendly.
He called the campus police chief
who threatened to arrest
Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac
if they didn't stop at once.
At this point, Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac
reminded Mr. Hutchinson
and the police chief
that as long as they
were on a public walkway
at a public college they
had something called rights.
Specifically, they had the
rights to freedom of speech
and freedom of assembly.
In fact, you could say the
only permit they needed
to assemble and speak
freely on a public campus
is the Constitution itself.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hutchinson
couldn't quite follow the students' logic.
Neither could the police chief
whose only actual authority rests
in the very pocket-sized
Constitution they were handing out.
So, he arrested Michelle,
Nathan, and Isaac
and threw them in the
slammer for over seven hours.
Guess what?
If you pay taxes in Michigan,
you helped pay to arrest
Michelle, Nathan, and Isaac.
If you pay taxes anywhere,
you also help pay for the
many public universities
across the country that
have policies similar
to those at Kellogg Community College.
Policies that forbid students
from exercising their God-given,
constitutionally protected rights.
But most students won't even know 
what they're missing out on,
because if these schools have it their way,
they'll never teach the
Constitution in the first place.
