Opinion ID: 446772
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: applying the central hudson test

Text: 38 The AFS product demonstrations easily get over the hurdle posed by the first prong of the Central Hudson test. The demonstrations clearly concern lawful activity, and the university does not contend that they are misleading. 27 The demonstrations are thus entitled to the first amendment protection afforded commercial speech. 39 The second step in the Central Hudson analysis is an evaluation of the governmental interests being offered to justify the restrictive regulation. Here, Penn State's long list of proffered justifications for banning group demonstrations in the students' dormitory rooms, see supra p. 861, can be distilled into two major asserted interests. First, Penn State contends that, in its role as property owner, it may preserve its dormitories for their intended use and prevent them from becoming rent-free merchandise marts; second, the school asserts that, as educator, it may ensure that the dormitories maintain their residential and study-oriented atmosphere. 40 It has long been recognized that the government has a significant interest in dedicating its own property to a particular use. This interest, however, is not without limitation. Some parcels of government property, such as parks and streets, are effectively held in trust for the public for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts ..., and discussing public questions. Carey v. Brown, 447 U.S. 455, 460, 100 S.Ct. 2286, 2290, 65 L.Ed.2d 263 (1980) (quoting Hague v. CIO, 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 963, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939) (opinion of Roberts, J.)). This kind of property is considered a public forum, and the ability of the government to restrict speech on public forums is extremely circumscribed. Specifically, the government may adopt time, place, and manner restrictions in public forums only if they are content neutral, are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication. See Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, ---- U.S. ----, ----, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 3069, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984); Members of the City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 2118, 2129, 80 L.Ed.2d 772 (1984); United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 1707, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983); Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, 452 U.S. 640, 647-48, 101 S.Ct. 2559, 2563-64, 69 L.Ed.2d 298 (1981). Other property is dedicated by the government to a purpose inconsistent with public use as a forum for speech; in such non-public forum cases, the government may regulate speech so long as its regulation is reasonable and viewpoint neutral. See Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Education Association, 460 U.S. 37, 103 S.Ct. 948, 955, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983) (policy giving representative union but not rival union access to teachers' school mailboxes held constitutional); United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, 453 U.S. 114, 129-30, 132-33, 101 S.Ct. 2676, 2685, 2686-87, 69 L.Ed.2d 517 (1981); Greer v. Spock, 424 U.S. 828, 836, 96 S.Ct. 1211, 1216, 47 L.Ed.2d 505 (1976). 41 If university dormitories were a public forum, Penn State's first justification for prohibiting the AFS demonstrations--that such action is necessary to preserve the property for its dedicated use--would clearly be insubstantial. Obviously, the state cannot prohibit speech on its property on the grounds that the prohibition is necessary to preserve the property for its intended use when one important purpose of the property is to provide a forum for members of society to communicate information and ideas. On the other hand, if the property involved were a typical non-public forum, such as a federal office building, the government's asserted interest in maintaining that property for its intended use would indeed be great. 42 This case is unusual, however, because university dormitories have characteristics of both public and non-public forums. With respect to outsiders, the students' dormitory rooms at Penn State appear to be non-public forums: they are certainly not in existence in order to facilitate general public communication. The university, therefore, has a legitimate proprietary interest in maintaining the dormitories for their intended use as residence halls and not as rent-free space for commercial vendors. For the students, however, not only do the dormitories resemble public forums but the university campus resembles society at large. Most students at a large public university like Penn State spend most of their time immersed in a world dedicated to the purpose of their education. They live in a dormitory, travel to and from classes on campus, listen to the college radio station, and read college newspapers. The government owns all of the property related to the students' world yet the students must be able to exchange ideas and information, including commercial information, somewhere on this property unencumbered by university restrictions; 28 hence, their interest in doing so in their own rooms is enhanced. As in the case of public parks, therefore, one important use of dormitory rooms is as a forum for speech uninhibited by governmental interference--at least when such speech is desired by the students. For this reason, Penn State cannot meet the Central Hudson requirement of a substantial governmental interest merely by making the blanket assertion that it needs to restrict speech in the dormitories in order to preserve them for their intended use. 29 43 Penn State, however, is more than a mere property owner; it is an educational institution. The university contends that, as educator, it must be able to maintain a residential and study-conducive atmosphere in the dormitories. There can be no doubt that a public university has a significant interest in carrying out its educational mission, and that this interest necessarily gives it some power to regulate its students' lives. While this interest, standing alone, might not be sufficient to meet the Central Hudson test, we believe that Penn State's proprietary interest (with respect to AFS and other outsiders) in ensuring that its premises do not become a rent-free merchandise mart, coupled with its educational interest (with respect to the students), constitute together a substantial justification for its attempt to regulate commercial speech in the students' dormitory rooms. 44 In accordance with Central Hudson, we must next determine whether the regulation at issue advances the government's asserted interest. Penn State wants to ensure that its dormitories remain a residential and study area for its 12,000 on-campus students. A population of 12,000 is a very tempting market for the sellers of innumerable products and services. Because relatively few college students have an automobile on campus, the ability of a seller to transact business on campus is an important factor in making sales. Furthermore, since the students generally live in close proximity to one another, there may be efficiencies or economies of scale in collectively soliciting them where they reside. When the fact that dormitories present potential vendors with a place to sell their goods rent free is added to these other considerations, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the character of the Penn State dormitories would be adversely affected in the absence of restrictions on commercial solicitation. 30 The university's restriction, therefore, directly advances its purpose. 45 Finally, we may uphold the regulation only if it is not excessive in light of the state's objective. This does not mean, of course, that if lesser restrictions on AFS alone would be sufficient to maintain the atmosphere in the dormitories, the university's regulations must fail. Rather, we must be convinced only that Penn State's total ban on group demonstrations in the dormitory rooms is necessary given the effect of allowing all commercial vendors access to the students' rooms on the same terms. See Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 104 S.Ct. at 3071; Heffron, 452 U.S. at 651-55, 101 S.Ct. at 2566-67. 46 In light of recent Supreme Court precedent, we believe that this last prong of the Central Hudson test cannot be read as a least restrictive means requirement. In Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984), the Court was faced with a National Park Service regulation that prohibited sleeping in certain parks in Washington, D.C. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had held the regulation invalid because of its belief that the regulation could have been more narrowly tailored to meet the agency's purpose, which is a requirement under the public forum test. See supra p. 864. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals on this issue, stating: 47 We are unmoved by the Court of Appeals' view that the challenged regulation is unnecessary, and hence invalid, because there are less speech-restrictive alternatives that could have satisfied the government interest in preserving park lands.... The Court of Appeals' suggestion that the Park Service minimize the possible injury by reducing the size, duration, or frequency of demonstrations would still curtail the total allowable expression in which demonstrators could engage ... and these suggestions represent no more than a disagreement with the Park Service over how much protection the core parks require or how an acceptable level of preservation is to be attained. We do not believe that [prior first amendment cases] assign to the judiciary the authority to replace the Park Service as the manager of the Nation's parks or endow the judiciary with the competence to judge how much protection of park lands is wise .... 48 Id. 104 S.Ct. at 3072; see also Regan v. Time, Inc., 104 S.Ct. at 3271-72 (plurality opinion of White, J.) (The less-restrictive-alternative analysis invoked by [respondent] has never been a part of the inquiry into the validity of a time, place, and manner regulation.); White House Vigil for the ERA Committee v. Clark, 746 F.2d 1518, at 1528-1532 (D.C.Cir.1984) (discussing Supreme Court's rejection of the notion that courts may arbitrarily substitute their judgment for that of legislative or administrative institutions in first amendment cases). 49 Although the Supreme Court has not yet addressed this issue in the context of the Central Hudson test, we see no reason for doubting that it would interpret the no more extensive than necessary language of Central Hudson in the same way it has interpreted the narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest language in Community for Creative Non-Violence. Therefore, although we might be able to imagine alternative regulations that accomplish Penn State's objectives while interfering less with the students' and AFS's rights to communicate, we will not strike down the university's regulation on this ground. This court may not establish itself as the manager of Penn State's students and property, nor may it substitute its own judgment for Penn State's conclusion as to the best means to carry out the university's legitimate ends. There is a whole realm of permissible means of accomplishing the university's objectives, and our function must be limited to determining whether the school has chosen an acceptable--not the least restrictive--alternative. 50 Penn State's regulation does not prohibit all commercial information from reaching its students while they are in their dormitory rooms. If invited by a student, a commercial vendor may conduct a one-on-one demonstration and sale in that student's own room. Moreover, the telephone, mails, student newspaper, and college radio station are all available to commercial entities who desire to advertise in the student market. In addition, the university's regulation does not prohibit all group solicitation on state-owned property; Penn State has indicated its willingness to make a facility on campus, the Nittany Lion Inn, available to AFS and other vendors for group sales demonstrations. 51 We believe that the existence of ample alternative means for students and vendors to exchange commercial information in the dormitories and elsewhere confirms that Penn State's restriction is carefully tailored to carry out its intended purpose. The university does not want its dormitory rooms converted, in effect, into rent-free space for commercial vendors because it fears that such a result would prevent it from maintaining the dormitories as a place where students can reside and study without disruption. It has acted on this fear by banning all on-site group commercial solicitation on an equal basis, while permitting all other types of commercial communication between its students and outside vendors. We cannot say that this limited restriction on commercial speech is excessive.