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Student Group Sues Macomb Community College Over Speech Policy

MACOMB, Mich. (AP) - A conservative nonprofit student group at a community college in eastern Michigan has sued the school, saying its policy of requiring permission for public speech violates members' First Amendment rights.

Attorneys representing Turning Point USA say the Macomb Community College chapter is challenging the school's expressive activity policy in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Detroit.

The organization has college chapters across the country. Officials say it trains students to "promote the principles of freedom, free markets and limited government."

The complaint follows an April incident in which chapter members, including one in a T. Rex costume, said college police told them they couldn't speak with other students, pass out literature or collect signatures on campus because they didn't have administrators' approval.

College spokeswoman Jeanne Nichol says the school doesn't comment on pending litigation.

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