Rhode Island College has devised a novel argument to defend itself in a lawsuit filed by students who said the college violated the First Amendment when it removed some protest signs they had posted in 2005. The public institution’s argument is that it is not a public institution.

According to today’s Providence Journal, the college has declared that it is not a government entity in court papers seeking the lawsuit’s dismissal on the grounds that the free-speech rights laid out in the U.S. Constitution are not binding on nongovernmental institutions. “It is fundamental that the First Amendment is concerned with government action only,” the college’s lawyer, Nicholas Trott Long, told the newspaper.

But is the college public or private? On its Web site, the college describes itself as “the oldest of the three public institutions of higher education that operate under the aegis of the Board of Governors for Higher Education.” Elsewhere on its Web site, it notes that appointments to the board are made by the state’s governor, with the advice and consent of the State Senate.

But according to Mr. Long, the board “is regarded as ‘private’” because it is an “independent corporation.” In keeping with its status as a private institution, he said, the college “enjoys neither 11th Amendment nor sovereign immunity.” One hopes that Mr. Long does not have to defend the college in some future lawsuit, where such defenses would come in handy.

A local official of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on the students’ behalf, told the newspaper that he was “stunned and amazed” at the college’s argument. “Rhode Island College’s position that its campus is a Constitution-free zone is shocking and preposterous, and will no doubt come as a surprise to the thousands of students and faculty members who thought they were attending or working at a public institution,” he said.