(Radio Iowa) — The non-profit group Speech First has filed a lawsuit against Iowa State University saying three policies instituted on campus have had a chilling impact on free speech. The president of the group, Nici Neily says one policy prevents students from writing chalk messages on campus.

“It seems it started with a pro-life group chalking pro-life messages and then a pro-choice group chalked their messages. And then everybody kind of got involved and there were a lots of political things going on,” Neily says. “And then at some point some offensive messages were chalked and the school put in place an interim ban — and then the student government voted on it and made it a permanent ban.”

Neily says the ban prevents communication at a key time when presidential candidates are visiting campus. “A lot of the students I talked to had learned about these events and either attended or organized counter events as a result of this chalking,” she says. “And so I think student’s political and civic participation is really impacted by this in particular.” Neily says the school also banned sending emails in support of candidates.

And she says they created a Campus Climate Reporting System to take reports of things students found offensive. “Turns out that often the speech that ends up being reported is political speech and it is religious speech. And the school has a portal where you can do this anonymously,” she says. Neily says the process used to react to the reports raised concerns with students.

)”The school will collect that information. The team that analyzes it is made up of university administrators, including university police — and then depending on what the report is — they’ll reach out to the reporter and they’ll reach out the person who has been reported on. And if needed — they’ll refer it elsewhere for further investigation,” Neily explains. She says this process has a chilling impact on the students’ rights to free speech.

“I think of it as kind of a Orwellian reporting system,” Neily explains.”Students are making what I think is a very logical decision to just avoid the hassle of going through an investigation altogether. And just avoiding having controversial discussions — because they fear the punishment by process.” Neily says these three things go directly against the idea of what should happen on a campus.

“You know, college campuses are the place where ideas should be vigorously debated. But unfortunately it seems like the window of acceptable discourse is narrow these days that students who express viewpoints outside of that orthodoxy, they face administrative proceedings,” Neily says. “Iowa State is a public university, it is a state actor, they have to uphold the First Amendment, period.”

Neily says Speech First has asked the court to declare that the chalking ban, email prohibition on political speech, and Campus Climate Response System are all unconstitutional, and to enjoin both the chalking ban and prohibition on electronic correspondence in support of candidates and ballot initiatives in advance of the February 3rd Iowa Caucuses. An I-S-U spokesperson says are reviewing the lawsuit and have not comment.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:25 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A group that insures local governments across Iowa is going to court to try to block the state auditor from reviewing its spending, including travel to out-of-state vacation destinations. The Iowa Communities Assurance Pool, which is owned by cities, counties and other governments, argues in a legal petition that it is not a “governmental subdivision” and that State Auditor Rob Sand has no authority to examine its finances. Sand’s office began reviewing the pool’s spending in October after The Associated Press reported that its directors have routinely held public meetings at vacation resorts in Florida every February and Michigan every August.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Department of Human Services officials say they are temporarily withholding nearly $44 million in payments for this month to one of the management companies overseeing the state’s Medicaid program. Iowa DHS spokesman Matt Highland says in a statement Friday the agency has informed Iowa Total Care of the penalty for several compliance issues. They include unpaid claims, inaccurate claims payments, problems with pricing methods and pharmacy dispensing fees. Highland says the money will released to the company once the problems are resolved. The withheld amount represents about 26% of the nearly $170 million that would be due the company.

LECLAIRE, Iowa (AP) — Emergency crews werer scrambling to clean up following a train derailment in the eastern Iowa city of LeClaire that sent more than a dozen rail cars and tankers off the tracks in the downtown district. The derailment forced police to shut down a nearby highway and send a hazardous materials team to the site. The derailment happened around 11 a.m. Friday along U.S. Highway 67, just a couple of hundred feet from the banks of the Mississippi River. Police closed the highway in both directions and asked people to avoid the area. Scott County Emergency Management planner Brian Payne says the derailment involved a Canadian Pacific train and that no injuries were reported.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says names of car owners ticketed by automated speed cameras are not public records. The court considered a lawsuit filed by former Ottumwa police sergeant Mark Milligan who was ticketed in 2016 driving a city-owned car. He filed an open records request for names of car owners caught on camera and ticketed and those not ticketed. Officials driving government cars often aren’t ticketed. The city denied his request, but a judge ordered their release. The city appealed. The supreme court concluded Friday that speed camera tickets are city citations not filed in court and therefore aren’t public record.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on January 1st of a Clarinda man following a single vehicle injury accident that occurred in December of 2019. Dylan Taylor of Clarinda was charged with Driving While Barred-Habitual Offender, an aggravated misdemeanor. He was booked in to the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Department of Human Services officials say they are temporarily withholding nearly $44 million in payments for this month to one of the management companies overseeing the state’s Medicaid program. Iowa DHS spokesman Matt Highland says in a statement Friday the agency has informed Iowa Total Care of the penalty for several compliance issues.

They include unpaid claims, inaccurate claims payments, problems with pricing methods and pharmacy dispensing fees. Highland says the money will be released to the company once the problems are resolved. The withheld amount represents about 26% of the nearly $170 million that would be due the company.