Wash. school facing lawsuit over display

SPOKANE, Wash., March 12 (UPI) -- A community college in Spokane, Wash., unfairly stopped several students from putting up an anti-abortion display on campus, a lawsuit says.

The suit filed on behalf of Spokane Falls Community College student Beth Sheeran alleges the actions of school officials violated the free speech rights of Sheeran and her fellow students, The Seattle Times reported Thursday.

"That is obviously chilling their speech," said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Heather Gebelin Hacker, whose group filed the suit on behalf of Sheeran.

"In addition, it allows the school to punish speech that they don't like. That's Orwellian," she added, referring to the repressive authorities in author George Orwell's book "Nineteen Eighty-Four."

The lawsuit also alleges that display organizers were threatened with expulsion if they went ahead with January's anti-abortion event marking the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling.