First Amendment
FIRE: Pensacola State College Has Not Responded to Censorship Demand
The national free speech organization that put PSC on notice over its suppression of student journalism says it has received no reply from the college—and is weighing next steps.
As of Monday afternoon, Pensacola State College had not responded to an urgent demand from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to lift a ban on student-written articles covering queer community topics—with a deadline set for the close of business today. Read FIRE Letter to Pensacola State College, May 1, 2026.
- Inweekly spoke with Dominic Coletti, FIRE’s Program Officer for Campus Rights Advocacy and the author of the May 1 letter to PSC President C. Edward Meadows, about the case, the organization’s broader work in Florida, and what comes next if the college stays silent.
As of Monday afternoon, Pensacola State College had not responded to an urgent demand from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to lift a ban on student-written articles covering queer community topics—with a deadline set for the close of business today.
- While on the phone with Coletti, Sheila Nichols, the executive director for Marketing and Public Information at Pensacola State College, emailed: “I am looking into this now and will get back to you with our response.”
“We haven’t gotten a response from the college yet,” Coletti said in the phone interview. He explained that FIRE learned of the censorship through contacts working in the ‘student press-freedom’ space, and moved quickly to go on record with PSC about why its actions violate the First Amendment.
- “We were glad to be able to get into public advocacy on it and, more importantly, to be on record—to explain to the college why this is wrong and why it violates the First Amendment.”
Active Litigation Against the Stop WOKE Act
FIRE’s involvement in Florida’s Stop WOKE Act battles goes well beyond letter-writing. Coletti confirmed the organization is currently engaged in active litigation against the law.
“We’ve actually been engaged in litigation against the Stop WOKE Act as well—against the Board of Governors for the University System of Florida,” Coletti said. “That litigation is ongoing.”
A federal district court previously enjoined the State University System Board of Governors from enforcing the Stop WOKE Act, calling its restrictions “dystopian.” PSC operates under a parallel set of Florida College System provisions.
Who Is FIRE?
Coletti offered an overview of FIRE for readers unfamiliar with the organization.
“FIRE is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to defending freedom of speech for all Americans,” he said. “We started as an organization really focused on defending free speech on college campuses because we recognized that was where a lot of the free speech battles were being fought.”
- About three years ago, FIRE expanded its scope beyond campus cases while keeping higher education at its core. “We do believe that training up Americans to understand and fight for their free speech rights starting in college is valuable,” Coletti said, “but we also began taking on cases that go outside the four corners of college campuses.”
He was emphatic that the organization’s work is driven by principle, not politics.
- “We work with people on all sides of the political spectrum—people from the left, people from the right, people with apolitical beliefs, and people from any political persuasion you can imagine,” Coletti said. “We don’t do anything based on the content of the speech. We don’t even comment on the content of the speech at issue. We focus on defending the principles of free expression.”
Next Steps
When asked what FIRE would do if PSC failed to respond by the end of the day, Coletti was measured but direct.
- “We’ll take a look at it internally and figure those next steps out once we’ve not gotten the response,” he said.
Inweekly has requested an official response from Pensacola State College and will update this story when one is received. Check back for continuing coverage.