The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is demanding Ohio State University rescind its "flatly unconstitutional" campus chalking ban, claiming it was enacted specifically to suppress pro-Palestine viewpoints.
In a letter sent to Ohio State President Ravi Bellamkonda on July 30, the ACLU of Ohio urged the university to immediately revoke its 2025 ban on leaving chalk messages on campus, saying it violates the First Amendment by suppressing speech. The civil rights organization also reported learning through a series of public records requests with the university that the ban was enacted "specifically to suppress a particular viewpoint: pro-Palestine or anti-Zionist speech."
Campus chalking was banned in August 2025 under Ohio State's University
Signage Standards. At the time, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said the new policy arrived in light of "continued complaints regarding chalking on campus and the significant amount of administrative time spent evaluating chalking."
The ban was enacted under Bellamkonda's predecessor, Ted Carter, who had to resign earlier this year as part of a scandal involving a female podcaster.
The ACLU of Ohio said in a press release that it requested from Ohio State all complaints related to chalking on campus from January 1, 2024 until the chalking ban's enactment on Aug. 14, 2025.
"For complaints where the content of the chalked message is noted in the documentation, every single one pertains to pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist, and/or anti-Israel chalked messages," ACLU Ohio's demand letter states. "The complaints were hardly overwhelming in number for a university OSU’s size; in approximately 18 months preceding the ban, there were a mere 37 of them."
Ohio State spokesperson Chris Booker said in an email that the university is reviewing the letter.
"The Ohio State University is committed to protecting free speech and expression on our campuses, and we support the right of students, faculty and staff to speak out about issues that are important to them," he said.
David Carey, managing legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, stated in the release that the university's chalking ban "must not stand" for the upcoming school year.
"We urge President Bellamkonda to correct the mistakes made by his predecessor’s administration and immediately rescind this unconstitutional policy," Carey said in the release. "Students have a right to express their political views on campus free of this kind of discrimination, even if those views may offend some of their peers."
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ACLU demands OSU end chalking ban, says it targeted pro-Palestine speech
