The Electronic Frontier Foundation (the “EFF”), a non-profit advocacy and legal group based in San Francisco, CA, is contemplating filing a lawsuit against Michigan State University.  It seems MSU disciplined a student for being a “spammer” when the student sent an email to about 900 professors without prior school approval.  The student was a member of the MSU student government and, in her personal capacity, was trying to garner professor support to protest a change in the school year that the Provost had put forth.

The EFF wrote a blog post on the matter late last year.  From the EFF blog:

MSU’s email policy prohibits the sending of unsolicited e-mail “for personal purposes, advertising or solicitations, or political statements or purposes” to more than about 20-30 recipients without prior approval of University officials.  EFF and the other organizations noted that, especially by prohibiting “political statements” such as Ms. Spencer’s based on their content, the public university policy is constitutionally suspect.  The policy also improperly grants unfettered discretion to MSU in selecting which messages can be sent to multiple students and faculty by requiring prior administration approval.

The EFF is now looking for local lawyers interested in working on the case pro bono.  If you are interested, contact Vince Polley, a member of the State Bar of Michigan Information Technology Law Section, at vpolley@knowconnect.com.

–Matt

(Hat tip: State Bar of Michigan Information Technology Law Section)