The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) will not settle its lawsuit with Penn State over students' free speech rights unless the university changes its policies, ADF lawyer David French said yesterday.

ADF filed a lawsuit against the university Wednesday on behalf of student A.J. Fluehr.

"All of the policies that we target in the complaint need to be modified or removed," French said.

French said Penn State has about 20 days to submit a response to the lawsuit. He said it was up to the courts to schedule a hearing, but it should be within a "matter of weeks."

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said university had never violated students' free speech rights.

"There has never been an instance in which Penn State has even tried to circumvent basic first amendment rights," he said.

Kendig said the university's legal counsel reviews all university policies before they are implemented and that the policies have been challenged and upheld.

Kendig said Penn State is aware of the lawsuit, but could not specify how or when the university's legal counsel would respond.

French said similar university policies in Pennsylvania have been struck down. He cited a 2003 lawsuit at Shippensburg University in which the court struck down a speech code that included the words "Acts of intolerance directed towards community members will not be condoned."

Fluehr is not the only Penn State student who has objected to university policies regarding free speech, French said.

"A.J. and I learned of each other through other students," French said. "A.J. is hardly alone in wanting to see these speech codes changed."

Fluehr is a senator in Undergraduate Student Government and member of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF).

Shauna Moser, YAF president, said Fluehr had not told the club that he would definitely file the lawsuit.

"He gave us an idea that he was going to be doing it. We kind of laughed and said go for it," she said.

Mike Adams, the conservative columnist who spoke at Penn State last Thursday about free speech policies, sent a letter to Penn State president Graham Spanier Wednesday saying that Penn State's intolerance policy violated students' freedom of speech and predicting that the lawsuit would be successful. YAF sponsored Adam's speech.

Moser says she disagrees with the university's policies on intolerance and diversity.

"Penn State sees themselves as higher than the law and that's not right," she said.

Moser also disagreed with the policy on free speech areas.

"I don't think you should have to fill out paperwork if you want to do a peaceful protest," she said.

Allies President Ed Rowe said he viewed the policies on free speech areas as "clearly unconstitutional." However, he said that he supported the policy on intolerance.

"I firmly believe it is within the purview of the university to have a policy which protects students," he said.

He said ADF was trying to promote hate speech on campus.

"The Alliance Defense Fund is working across the nation to take several steps backwards and reverse [student protections]," he said.

College Republicans President Vicky Cangelosi said she supported the lawsuit and was glad Fluehr had raised the issue. She said the club considered the intolerance policy when planning events.

"I don't even know how many events we would consider doing if we weren't going to be labeled as intolerant," she said.

Black Caucus spokesman Darryl Watson said he would not comment on the lawsuit or on Penn State's free speech area policies, but he supported the university's intolerance policy.

"We support any and all university policies that prohibit intolerant actions against any student on this campus," said Watson, adding that hate speech was not protected by the constitution.

College Democrats President Alex Smith said the club had not experienced problems with the free speech area policies.

"This university and universities across the country are a bastion for free and open discourse," he said.

He said he did not know enough about the intolerance policy to comment on it.