November 11, 2013 Mark Deppe Assistant Director Student Programming Funding Board Associated Students UCI G244

Student Center Irvine, CA 92697 Re: Pending Request by UCI Student Mr. Shahhoseini for Events Funding Dear Mr. Deppe: I serve as Director of The Legal Project, an activity of the Middle East Forum which is seeks to protect the First Amendment on Islamic issues as a public interest non-profit. I write to you on behalf of Mr. Kasra Shahhoseini, an undergraduate student in UC-Irvine (University). During the 2012 academic year, Mr. Shahhoseini founded the student organization ExMuslims and Critics of Islam (ECI). Mr. Shahhoseini served as the Organizations President where his responsibilities included coordinating the ECIs activities. In this capacity, Mr. Shahhoseini coordinated two separate events Freedom of Speech vs. Blasphemy in Islam on November 26,2012 (Event 1) and Religious Roots of IsraeliPalestinian Conflict, (Event 2) on May 8, 2013. Both events were held on University grounds and attended by registered students. Mr. Shahhoseini applied for funding of both events to the Student Programming Funding Board (Board). For Event 1, Mr. Shahhoseini requested from the Board $430.00. Mr. Shahhoseini spent a total of $380.00 of his own funds. For Event 2, Mr. requested from the Board $465.00. He received $165.00 from the Deans Fund and ultimately spent $300.00 of his own funds. The Board denied funding in both instances under the rationale that the events were religious in nature and therefore outside the funding guidelines. The denial by the Board violated Mr. Shahhoseinis constitutional rights protected under the First Amendment which raises serious and actionable concerns. The Boards policy of not funding religious

1500 Walnut St., Suite 1050 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel: 215-546-5406 Fax: 215-546-5409 Website: www.legal-project.org E-mail: info@meforum.org The Legal Project is an activity of the Middle East Forum.

events is a form of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination as the Board funds other events organized by UCI Irvine student groups. Legal Analysis The First Amendment has special application on campuses of public colleges and universities. This has been well articulated by multiple decisions of the Supreme Court. In Sweezy v. New Hampshire, the Court stated that [t]he essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. The Court has also observed that the freedom of association has long been held to be implicit in the freedoms of speech, assembly, and petition. 1 Moreover, in Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitor of the University of Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995), the Court observed that, in the public university setting, the State acts against a background and tradition of thought and experiment that is at the center of our intellectual and philosophic t radition.2 In Rosenberger, the Court struck down a university student activities funding policy that prohibited funding for any student publication that primarily promotes or manifests a particular belief in or about a deity or an ultimate reality.3 The Court also held that university students should be free to express viewpoints including religious perspectivesthat are unpopular, unorthodox, or differ from those held by school officials. The quality and creative power of student intellectual life to this day remains a vital measure of a schools influence and attainment. For [a] University . . . to cast disapproval on particular viewpoints of its students risks the suppression of free speech and creative inquiry in one of the vital centers for the Nat ions intellectual life, its college and university campuses. 4 In other words, a public college may not single out student religious expression for disfavored treatment. The right to express ones viewpoint is so fundamental that it is even held by eleme ntary and secondary school students. In a landmark decision involving high school and junior high school students, the Supreme Court held in Tinker that [i]t can hardly be argued
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Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169 (1972) 515 U.S. at 835. 3 Id. at 825 (emphasis added). 4 Id. at 836 (emphasis added). 1500 Walnut St., Suite 1050 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel: 215-546-5406 Fax: 215-546-5409 Website: www.legal-project.org E-mail: info@meforum.org The Legal Project is an activity of the Middle East Forum.

that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.5 Students enjoy the protection of the First Amendment in the cafeteria, or on the playing field, or on campus during the authorized hours.6 The First Amendment provides greater protection for college student expression. The First Amendments protection of student expression on public university campuses includes religious viewpoints. While some school officials may believe that they can suppress student religious expression due to the separation of church and state, it is well settled that private religious speechincluding the speech of studentsis protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has explained: Private religious speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is as fully protected under the Free Speech Clause as secular private expression. Indeed, in Anglo-American history, at least, government suppression of speech has so commonly been directed precisely at religious speech that a free-speech clause without religion would be Hamlet without the prince. 7 The Court has also noted that there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect.8 It is well established that the government including public colleges and professorsmay not give private speech disfavored treatment because it is religious. 9 To treat religious speech less favorably than any other speech amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.10 It is axiomatic that the government may not regulate speech based on its substantive content or the message it conveys. . . . In the realm of private speech or expression, government regulation may not favor one speaker over another. Discrimination against speech because of its message is presumed to be unconstitutional. . . . The government must abstain from

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393 U.S. at 506. Id. at 512-13 (citation omitted); see also Morse v. Frederick, 127 S. Ct. 2618, 2622 (2007). 7 Capitol Square Review & Advisory Bd. v. Pinette, 515 U.S. 753, 760 (1995). 8 Mergens, 496 U.S. at 250. 9 See, e.g., Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch. , 533 U.S. 98 (2001); Rosenberger, 515 U.S. at 819; Pinette, 515 U.S. at 753; Lambs Chapel, 508 U.S. at 394; Mergens, 496 U.S. at 226; Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981). 10 See Good News Club, 533 U.S. at 98; Lambs Chapel, 508 U.S. at 394. 1500 Walnut St., Suite 1050 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel: 215-546-5406 Fax: 215-546-5409 Website: www.legal-project.org E-mail: info@meforum.org The Legal Project is an activity of the Middle East Forum.

regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction. 11 The Court has further explained that the Establishment Clause has one basic principle that has enjoyed an uncharacteristic degree of consensus: The Clause does not compel the exclusion of religious groups from government benefits programs that are generally available to a broad class of participants. 12 Lastly, with regard to public colleges, the First Amendment prohibits a dean, professor, or other employee from restricting student religious expression solely because of a viewpoint, even a religious one. 13

Demand In light of the Boards violation of Mr. Shahhoseinis constitutionally guaranteed rights under the First Amendment, he respectfully requests to have the Board fund the Events expenses no later than ten business days from today. Payment should be made by way of a check payable to Kasra Shahhoseini for $665.00. This amount equals the total outlay Mr. Shahhoseini spent on both the events (Event 1 $360.00 Outlay + Event 2 $305.00 Outlay). Payment by the Board should be made directly to Mr. Shahhoseini. Mr. Shahhoseini can be contacted the following email address to coordinate receipt of the check: kshahhos@uci.edu. I request to be copied on the email at the address listed below. Please be advised Mr. Shahhoseini is intent on protecting his rights and should this request be denied he will have no option but to consider seeking redress in a more formal forum. The denial of these funds has had a chilling effect on Mr. Shahhoseini s First Amendment rights, forcing him to delay holding events during the 2013 Fall Semester.
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Rosenberger, 515 U.S. at 828 (internal citations omitted). Id. at 861. (Citing Lambs Chapel, 508 U.S.; Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School Dist., 509 U. S. 1, (1993); Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66) v. Mergens, 496 U. S. 226 (1990); Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock, 489 U. S. 1 (1989); Witters v. Washington Dept. of Servs. for Blind, 474 U. S. 481 (1986); Mueller v. Allen, 463 U. S. 388 (1983); Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U. S. 263, (1981)). 13 See, e.g., Gay Lesbian Bisexual Alliance v. Pryor, 110 F.3d 1543 (11th Cir. 1997) (holding that a statute prohibiting public universities from providing activities funding for student groups that promoted homosexual activity violated the First Amendment); see also Roman Catholic Found., UW-Madison, Inc., v. Regents of Univ. of Wisc. Sys., 578 F. Supp. 2d 1121 (W.D. Wis. 2008) & 590 F. Supp. 2d 1083 (W.D. Wisc. 2008) (holding that a universitys refusal to fund student activities involving proselytizing, sectarian religious instruction, or worship violated the First Amendment regardless of whether it was viewed as a content-based or viewpoint-based decision). 1500 Walnut St., Suite 1050 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel: 215-546-5406 Fax: 215-546-5409 Website: www.legal-project.org E-mail: info@meforum.org The Legal Project is an activity of the Middle East Forum.

Therefore, should the Board decline Mr. Shahhoseini s instant funding request, the Board should provide me Mr. Shahhoseini via his email, copying myself, the following records which he Mr. Shahhoseini is legally entitled: 1. Every event that the Board funded during the Fall 2012, Winter 2013 and Fall 2013 semesters. 2. Every event that the Board declined to fund during the semesters listed above with the Boards rationale. This letter does not purport to state all facts and claims related to this matter. Mr. Shahhoseini reserves all rights in law and equity. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, /Sam Nunberg/ Samuel Nunberg Director The Legal Project 1500 Walnut Street Suite 1050 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Nunberg@meforum.org CC: Kasra Shahhoseini

1500 Walnut St., Suite 1050 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Tel: 215-546-5406 Fax: 215-546-5409 Website: www.legal-project.org E-mail: info@meforum.org The Legal Project is an activity of the Middle East Forum.