BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) — A federal lawsuit against Kellogg Community College claims the Battle Creek school violated the free speech rights of students handing out the U.S. Constitution on campus.

The 45-page complaint filed this week, Kellogg Community College is now among the colleges and universities around the nation being sued for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of its students.

A similar lawsuit was filed against Grand Valley State University last month by the same attorneys.

The lawsuit against KCC, filed in federal court in Grand Rapids, seeks to force the college to eliminate its so-called free-speech zones and registrations to hand out information.

In September 2015, students Brandon Withers and Michelle Gregorie were arrested on the Battle Creek campus — an incident captured on video

Casey Mattox, director of the Center for Academic Freedom, is representing the students and the group they belong to via Internet from his office in Washington D.C. He admits that their arrest was knowing and part of a national strategy to change these rules wherever they are found.

“Where universities are violating the First Amendment, we want to be there to be able to help students make sure their First Amendment rights are protected,” Mattox told 24 Hour News 8. “Universities are supposed to be a marketplace of ideas and you can’t have a marketplace of ideas when you’re limited to a few spots on campus.”

The pair knew they were violating the college requirements that students get permission before handing out written material on campus.

“The only speech permit that a student needs in college is the Constitution,” Mattox said.

The lawsuit claims that the students, affiliated with the Libertarian group known as Young Americans for Liberty, were in an open area and were not blocking any walkways.

The students were informed of the policy and then were told they were trespassing.

“Instead of being allowed to participate in that marketplace of ideas, the school actually had them arrested,” Mattox said.

They claim they were in jail for seven hours before bonding out, the Calhoun County Jail has no record of their arrest and the prosecutor did not press charges.

Gregorie is a 26-year-old mother of three who ran for the state House of Representatives as a Libertarian, finishing third with about 4.5 percent of the vote — 1,658 votes. That district was won by Republican John Bizon with a margin of just more than 200 votes out of 37,000 votes cast.

Withers is 31 years old and works at Meijer, according to his Facebook page.

Neither has a criminal record.

“It’s really important for the rest of us because these students are going to be tomorrow’s legislators and judges and school board members and other folks in positions where they need to understand two the First Amendment works,” Mattox said.

The suit names all the members of the board of trustees, the school’s public safety director and president.

No money damages are sought, but in similar cases brought by this group and others as much as $30,000 in attorneys’ fees have been awarded.

“They think that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to them, that’s a bad lesson to be teaching students,” Mattox said. “The Constitution makes Kellogg Community College a free speech zone, the entirety of the campus, you can’t limit speech to very small areas of a college campus.”

24 Hour News 8 contacted Kellogg Community College for a response and they said they are still reviewing the lawsuit but in a statement said they are fans of the Constitution and the First Amendment and they take allegations that students’ rights have been violated seriously.

Many cases like this are settled out of court, but Mattox says they will take it as high as the US Supreme Court, if necessary.

—–Online: Alliance Defending FreedomKellogg Community CollegeLawsuit in full (pdf)