DOWNTOWN — The city could shell out $205,000 to resolve a lawsuit from former Wheaton College students who said their right to free speech and freedom of religion was hindered when they were kicked out of Millennium Park by a security guard in 2018.
The city’s law department recommended the settlement, which the council’s finance committee approved Monday.
If approved by City Council this week, each of the four students would be awarded $5,000 in damages and $185,000 in attorney fees.
The former students were part of Wheaton College’s Chicago Evangelism Team, which visited Millennium Park periodically to hand out “religious literature,” city officials said.
In 2018, the students were stopped by a security guard from handing out literature to parkgoers. As a result, one of the students began “open-air” preaching. Park supervisors told them they were violating a Chicago ordinance that prohibited solicitation.
The students filed a lawsuit against the city in September 2019, saying park officials incorrectly restricted their freedom of speech in a traditional public forum and infringed on their right to exercise their religion.
In 2020, District Court Judge Robert Blakey granted a preliminary injunction pausing the enforcement of Millennium Park’s rules surrounding where people were allowed to give speeches or hand out materials.
That decision was made because the judge found the park’s rules were “enforced based on the intention of the speaker and the actual message that they were expressing,” city officials said.
Because of this, the park changed its rules so restrictions on speeches and handouts have been removed. Now, people can generally hand out items in the park except near the Boeing Galleries, the Lurie Garden or on the plaza surrounding The Bean, according to the rules.
In areas where literature distribution is allowed, individuals can only offer the materials once and may not again if it is rejected.
Law department officials recommended the settlement in light of those new rules, representatives said at the meeting.
Support Local News!
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription, or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
