By A man dressed in a highlighter orange shirt and bearing a three-tier sign that read “Prepare to meet thy God,” “Heaven or Hell?” and “Repent or Perish,” projected biblical scriptures and personalized religious messaging across the upper quad at noon on April 8.
The man spoke through a microphone that projected his voice through an attached speaker around his waist before a small group of students, faculty and staff.
Accompanied by a woman, who also bore a three-tier sign attached to two wooden planks.
The pair handed out mini pamphlets to students containing sermons and scriptures from the New Testament of the Christian Bible and the Book of Deuteronomy, the Old Testament.
The pamphlets were attributed to the Chapel Library in Pensacola, Florida, a worldwide ministry of the Mount Zion Bible Church.
Rob Schraff, a history department lecturer, engaged directly with the preacher.
Schraff, sitting in his office in Faculty Office 2, located next to the Liberal Arts buildings, said he could hear the street preacher word for word from an open window.
“It’s a very loud, super right-wing evangelical preacher. I’ve been kind of annoyed by him for 15 minutes or so,” Schraff said. “He started talking about gays and homosexuals, and how they were going to hell and how God hates them, and I found it really offensive, so I went out to try to talk to them.”
Schraff said he and other students on campus tried to talk to the street preacher; however, he refused to engage, continued preaching and turned up the volume of his speaker.
“I don’t think it’s per campus regulations,” Schraff said. “I’m all for free speech, don’t get me wrong, but he’s standing outside and just ranting without any kind of interaction with the people he’s supposedly here to talk to.”
Around 1 p.m., Schraff called the University Police Department in front of the street preacher and said campus police notified him they already had a complaint on file.
Rob Schraff calls the UPD on the street preacher utilizing sound-amplifying equipment in the upper quad as students walk by. Photo credit: Luis Castilla
UPD Captain Carol Almaguer confirmed they received a few calls for service.
“A lot of the calls were because their beliefs did not align,” Almaguer said.
According to Almaguer, the street preachers’ sound amplification did not violate the Time, Place and Manner policy established by the California State University system.
The TPM policy’s CSULB addendum states the Center, East, North and South regions of the Central Quad permit the use of amplified sound from noon to 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday, in accordance with section III.E.
Section III.E refers to “sound amplification,” which is permitted in areas of campus labeled as “public” during allotted hours, as long as it does not interfere “with the exercise of free speech by others or create noise in violation of local noise ordinances.”
Almaguer said they contacted Student Affairs for assistance in enforcing and determining the street preacher’s affiliation with the policy.
Student Affairs told Almaguer that the preachers were not students but an outside group that was not found to be violating TPM for sound amplification.
However, Almaguer said UPD was unsure if the preachers’ signage violated the TPM’s policy, so they went to check, arriving at the upper quad between 1 and 1:30 p.m.
Section III of the CSULB addendum states, “No person, while engaging in expressive activity on campus, may carry or possess a signpost, pole, pipe or stake fabricated of metal or composite material, regardless of width or diameter.”
Almaguer said once the UPD arrived, the pair had left the upper quad and passed through campus to their cars.
After Schraff called the UPD in front of them, the two evangelical street preachers began to make their exit off campus. Photo credit: Luis Castilla
