School Mandates Milk Propaganda at Anti-Dairy Event

A California high school student wanted to pass out literature critical of the dairy industry outside her school’s cafeteria—but the school administration wouldn’t let her, fearing that, unless she passed out pro-dairy flyers as well, the school would be found in violation of U.S. Department of Agriculture rules that bar anti-dairy speech on school grounds. The student has now filed a First Amendment lawsuit—challenging both the school’s policy and the UDSA’s pro-dairy regulations.

Marielle Williamson is a senior at Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School in Los Angeles. Williamson is the president of the school’s Animal Awareness Club, which seeks to raise awareness about the environmental and ethical consequences of animal product consumption. In February, Williamson sought permission from her school principal, Derek Steinorth, to pass out literature outside the school cafeteria on the environmental, ethical, and health implications of consuming dairy products.

According to the lawsuit, Steinorth gave a confusing response, telling her “You can have a table set up outside at lunch with her flyers on the pros and cons of drinking milk, but you should also have some literature for both sides of the debate,” adding, “I don’t think [these restrictions are] too unreasonable.”

Obviously, being required to pass out material that would undermine her goals and beliefs concerned Williamson, who replied that if “sharing materials that promote dairy [is] required in order for [sic] to proceed with the event…we would not do the event.”

She again emailed Steinorth to explain that “the point of this campaign is to counter industry-funded misinformation on dairy, and those flyers you provided fall into that category. Handing those out at the same time would defeat the purpose of our event.” She asked for a final response as to whether the event could go forw