Got my free speech club reinstated at a public uni in Boise after 2 years of fighting
Our chapter got suspended back in 2022 for putting up a table with controversial flyers near the student union. They claimed it was a 'disruption.' We appealed twice and lost both times. Then last week, the new dean reviewed the case and admitted the original ruling was too broad. We're back on campus starting next semester. Took two years, 14 meetings, and a lot of patience. Anyone else had to wait out an admin change to get their group active again?
The part about waiting out an admin change is real, but people miss that it also resets the clock on your paper trail. Every appeal you filed under the old dean becomes proof the new dean can point to when they reverse it, so the two years of losing wasn't wasted time. Most groups give up after the first denial and never build that record, which is why they stay banned forever.
The same thing plays out with landlords and tenant complaints, or even at a regular job where you keep asking HR for something in writing. Every no you collect gives the next person a stack of proof that the problem was real and not just you being difficult. People who quit early have nothing to show, and that empty file is why nobody ever takes their side.