Censorship of Minuteman Project ending

Censorship of Minuteman Project ending
Agreement calls for school to allow town hall meeting on illegals

Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, an organization that concerns itself with the protection and sanctity of the U.S. border, will be given access to public facilities at Compton Community College in California for a town hall meeting under a lawsuit settlement that is being worked out now.

Lawyer Michael Sands of the Pro Family Law Center told WND that an agreement with the school should be final shortly.

The lawsuit had been filed when Compton officials refused the Minuteman Project permission to use any facilities on campus for a town hall meeting about illegal immigration, border security and other issues, citing a rule against allowing buildings to be used by "special interest or advocacy groups."

Gilchrist, the project founder, has told WND his group's members are worried over incidents such as an incursion earlier this year in Arizona, where U.S. National Guard troops actually retreated in the face of oncoming – and armed – attackers from south of the border.

His group works to publicize such concerns, and develop support for solutions.

But documents obtained by the organization showed the school already had opened up its facilities to a "Farrakan Event," a "Multi-cultural Youth Peace Summit/Registration Drive" and "The Black Student Union and Muhammad's Mosque Peacemakers."

"Once you open up a school to one special interest group, you have to provide equal access," Sands told WND at the time. "They (school officials) could be putting forth some sort of agenda. They have to open up their facilities to all other groups who properly apply for permission."

The request had been rejected by Jamillah Moore, interim superintendent of Compton Community College, and the lawsuit alleged the school denied the Minuteman Project equal access to the use of facilities based on the content of the speech intended to be engaged in by the Minuteman Project.

The school has offered to pay the Minuteman Project $9,000 in fees and damages and will allow the group's use of campus facilities with the main requirement information about counter-demonstrators who could be expected, in order to prepare security, officials said.

Sands said he understands the school's need for information that could help it prepare security.

"I don't think that's burdensome on my client, to basically provide that information to them," he told WND.

He said the school also previously had demanded a $14,000 security fee from the organization, a fee not charged to others using the facilities, so that now has been waived.