A student at LSU represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a lawsuit challenging the university's rules regarding distribution of informational materials on the campus in Baton Rouge.

The student, who was handing out pro-life materials, was confined under university policy to a 1,000 square foot area known as Free Speech Alley.

She was participating in an October event called the Pro Life Day of Silent Solidarity and was told she could distribute literature only in the designated area.

Under university rules, such activity is limited to that space and students must register with the Office of Campus Life to ensure that others have not already reserved spaces in the zone.

ADF legal counsel Matt Sharp contends that by limiting such activities, the university is violating the constitutionally protected freedoms of students "who should be free to express themselves on the sidewalks and open spaces at the university."

"Public colleges and universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas," he says.

The lawsuit, which alleges the LSU policy "does not leave open ample alternative channels for communication as the constitution requires," has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.