A new policy being developed by the College of Literature, Science and the Arts that would regulate which student organizations and publications can pass out fliers, distribute publications and post informational signs in LSA buildings has come under criticism from legal experts who say the policy could violate students' free speech rights.

Under the new policy, student organizations and publications would have to be under the oversight of the Board for Student Publications - which oversees the Gargoyle humor magazine, the Michiganensian yearbook and The Michigan Daily - or recognized by the Michigan Student Assembly in order to distribute or post student-created print material in an LSA building.

In addition, all student organizations or publications would need to comply with University policies separate from the policies of the Board for Student Publications or the Michigan Student Assembly. The rules prohibit discrimination and harassment, and bar publications from displaying or distributing advertising that promotes the consumption of alcohol or other drugs.

To gain permission to post or distribute student-created fliers, posters or publications, each organization or publication would have to apply with and receive permission from the LSA Facilities and Operations Office.

The policy also says that no print material may be distributed before Sept. 15 and after Apr. 14, which would impact any student organization or publication distributing material during the first two weeks of the fall semester and during the University's spring and summer semesters.

A majority of the buildings on the University's central campus - including Angell, Haven and Mason Halls, the Modern Languages Building and the Chemistry Building - are LSA buildings, and would be affected if the policy were implemented.

Bob Johnston, director of the LSA Facilities and Operations Office, said the new policy was created in part to limit the amount of loose papers scattered on the floors of LSA buildings. He said students could potentially slip on papers and injure themselves, creating a possible liability for the University.

He also said the policy, which was the product of about two years of discussion with the University's Office of the General Counsel, was created so the LSA Facilities and Operations Office could tell smaller student publications that they had fair and equal access to distribution.

Johnston said the lack of a policy saying where student publications without their own racks could distribute their work in LSA buildings meant a lot of publications had difficulties distributing their material or found their work was being accidentally thrown out.

"Our intent is to make sure these publications who aren't established, who don't have a venue, are more fairly distributed," Johnston said.

The policy, Johnston said, would also help determine what was really a student-created publication and what wasn't. He said students often distribute material that isn't student-created, but rather is advertising for local businesses or realty companies.

"Just because there's a student involved doesn't mean that that's a sanctioned student organization," Johnston said.

He said the policy, if ultimately implemented, would likely go into effect at the beginning of the fall semester.

That means publications like the Ann Arbor News' "Food, Fun & Fitness" publication wouldn't be allowed into any LSA building.

He added that LSA's Facilities and Operations Office had plans to place centralized racks - like those found in the Michigan Union Underground - in the Modern Languages Building, the Chemistry Building atrium and the Haven Hall fishbowl to hold up to 30 different publications that don't already have distribution racks.

Despite concerns that the policy could restrict students' free speech, Johnston said the policy wasn't created to censor the content of publications.

"My office isn't in the business of restricting content, and LSA isn't in the business of restricting content, either," he said.

But Mike Hiestand, an attorney with the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit organization that provides legal counsel for student journalists, said the policy is dangerously close to infringing on students' free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

In many cases, Hiestand said, student publication distribution policies like LSA's are created to address issues of excessive amounts of papers on building floors.

If LSA can show that the sheer bulk of discarded publications could cause injuries and that the distribution policy would prevent that, then the policy should be legal, he said.