During his spring 2026 election campaign, President of LPC Student Government Tyson Tieu spent over an hour with The Express, interviewing and talking to reporters. Tieu even expressed interest in improving relations between Student Government and student media.
Shortly after he won the presidency, the communication with Tieu and The Express fell apart. Every request to interview or comment hit a dead end. Requesting permission from the LPC Student Government adviser, Josué Hernández, was now required.
LPC’s student government approved several revisions to its bylaws in April 2026. One of them, according to legal experts, violates the First Amendment rights of its student officers.
According to LPC Student Government bylaws Article I, Section 6:
Common Agreements, all officers must:
Refrain from reporting on any LPCSG business, activities, or events to any newspaper or publication without formal approval from the LPSG Advisor, LPSG Director of Outreach, and LPCSG President.
The Express contacted two free speech organizations — the First Amendment Coalition and the Student Law Press Center — to review the bylaw. Both concluded that it infringes on the First Amendment rights of student government members.
“A broad rule that prohibits public comment of any kind on any subject having to do with the student government presents a serious First Amendment problem,” David Loy, legal director of FAC, said.
According to the experts, the bylaw is effectively a gag order. And since it comes from the school, which receives federal funding, it is a gag order from a government entity — which makes it illegal under the U.S. Constitution.
Before this bylaw was established, LPCSG made it a practice not to speak to the campus media, except on the few occasions when a comment was secured through a written statement or when an officer spoke with student journalists unaware of the previously unwritten policy not to talk. The Express has attempted to interview student government officials on many occasions over the years, for features and profiles as well as to ask questions about LPCSG operations.
Student government members have firsthand knowledge of what goes on within the organization, whether it’s public or lawfully private. With this gag order in place, student media outlets now have a harder time reporting on their activities with little to no transparency or accountability.
As shown in the April 29 LPC Student Senate minutes, former President of LPC Student Government Naomi Mangini presented revisions to the bylaws made by the Constitution & Bylaws Committee. One of the revisions was a bylaw stating that if any LPCSG officer is also a member of a newspaper or campus media outlet, they need formal approval to report on student government activities. That was then amended into the gag order after the senate voted unanimously to pass the motion.
In the current LPCSG bylaws, if any of the common agreements are violated, the offending officer would face repercussions. LPCSG adviser Hernández and President Tieu would determine the severity of those repercussions. Article XIII, Section 2 of LPCSG’s bylaws states that any officer who commits two violations, including adhering to the common agreements, is eligible for impeachment.
“All of this is just so unconstitutional . . . there’s just no way that a bylaw like this is in any way lawful,” SLPC senior legal counsel Mike Hiestand said. “A blanket ban just saying you can’t talk to (the press) is absolutely unlawful.”
In the 1966 Bond v. Floyd case, the Supreme Court ruled that elected representatives need the freedom to express their views on government policy because open debate is crucial to representative government.
At a public institution, the same applies to elected officials of the Student Government.
Section 66301 of the California Education Code also generally prohibits community college governing boards from making rules that punish students for exercising their right to free speech.
“The First Amendment,” Loy said, “generally prohibits a broad rule that prohibits public employees from saying anything at all about any kind of public business without prior approval.”
The concern over the First Amendment rights violation was brought to the LPC Student Senate’s attention during its meeting on Sept. 23, months after the bylaw was unanimously passed. The senate or its adviser did not comment, so it remains unclear why this rule was adopted and if LPCSG plans to keep it.
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TOP PHOTO: An LPC student tears up a print of the First Amendment in front of the LPC Student Center, where the LPCSG is located. (Photo by Sophia Sucato // The Express)
Kian Amininejad is the News Editor of The Express. Follow him on X @Kian_Amininejad.
