On Wednesday, March 13, the Ashland University Honors Program hosted attorney C.L. Lindsay III in Redwood Hall. The Philadelphia native spoke to AU students and professors on their First Amendment rights and how important these are in today’s society.

C.L. Lindsay III began the lecture by telling his life story on how he became an attorney and what led him to start his nonprofit organization called CO-STAR. Lindsay began his career at Denison University where he graduated magna cum laude. He then pursued his J.D. from the University of Michigan.

He moved to New York City after college where he worked with the New York Yankees and even the television show South Park. However, in 1998, he left his practice in New York and moved back home to Philadelphia where he founded the Coalition for Student & Academic Rights (CO-STAR).

CO-STAR helps college students and professors with legal problems, however, the first 150 cases were from students. These problems include student protests, underage drinking, and social media.

Lindsay first described the content of the First Amendment and how freedom of speech is extra important in today’s political climate.

He then discussed the importance of guest speakers at universities. Lindsay believes that if students disagree with the message from a guest speaker, they should have the right to protest and state their mind, as long as it is respectfully.

The third point that C.L. Lindsay covered was talking to people with different views than your own. The First Amendment does not protect freedom of speech if violence is used to prove a point and C.L. wanted that to be very clear. He stresses the importance of being respectful whenever you are disputing someone else’s opinion

In the last six years, Lindsay has made more than 800 appearances at colleges from Coast to Coast. He always leaves his audience with the final thought, “Don’t be afraid to have the hard conversations. Don’t be afraid to get offended or offend as long as you are respectful.”