Black Hills State University YAL group threatened with arrest while recruiting on campus

https://www.thefire.org/news/black-hills-state-university-director-public-safety-censored-cursed-student-group-recruiting

On Jan. 24, students from Black Hills State University’s chapter of Young Americans for Liberty took to the campus sidewalks to recruit students and survey their classmates about the Second Amendment. As they stood outside in an open area of the South Dakota campus, one YAL member donned a foam sandwich board display that caught the eye of at least one passing faculty member, who approached the students and snapped a photo.

As captured on video reviewed by FIRE, Director of Public Safety Phil Pesheck appears to approach the group members and orders them to stop speaking to other students because they hadn’t filled out a form three days in advance — a form he first described as absolutely mandatory but later admitted was “just an administrative formality.” Pesheck insisted this missing form was required to use the campus grounds for any expressive activity, even by a registered student group. When the students asked for more information about the form and request procedure, Pesheck grew irate and claimed that university policy gave him the authority to ask anyone whose messages the university doesn’t “like,” and who didn’t fill out the form, to leave campus immediately.