Opinion ID: 470078
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Reduction of Opportunities

Text: 44 Finally, the Board contends that its refusal to publish CARD's advertisement is justified by its interest, reflected in its Publications Code, in providing its students with a forum for free expression. The Board claims that excluding material written or sponsored by outsiders such as CARD from its student newspapers increases the students' opportunities to express themselves in print. We acknowledge, and the parties do not dispute, that the Board may, in light of various practical constraints, prohibit or impose limits on the amount of material from non-students that may be published in student newspapers. However, any such restriction may not be arbitrary or unreasonable. See Cornelius. The Board has offered no valid reason that distinguishes the reduction in student opportunities for freedom of expression due to publication of the recruitment ads from the reduction that would occur from publication of CARD's advertisement; nor does the Board suggest that there is any objective system for limiting the number of ads or choosing among ads concerning the same general subject or relating to the same type of service or vocation. The differentiation in treatment between CARD's ad and the military's was thus arbitrary and as a result impermissible. Accordingly, we hold that the Board's policy on student self-expression did not provide a reasonable basis for excluding CARD from its newspapers.