PROVIDENCE — State higher education officials yesterday called for the immediate withdrawal of a legal motion that says Rhode Island College is not a government entity and college President John Nazarian is not a government employee.

Rhode Island College filed the motion Friday, asking U.S. District Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU claims the public college violated the First Amendment rights of a student group when it removed a series of signs reading “Keep your rosaries off our ovaries.”

But yesterday, Jack R. Warner, Rhode Island’s commissioner of higher education, and Frank Caprio, chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education, asked that the motion be withdrawn.

Reached by phone in Florida, Caprio said he was “somewhat surprised” when he read a projo.com story yesterday morning bearing the headline: “In lawsuit, RIC argues it’s not part of R.I. government.”

Caprio, who is also chief judge of Providence’s municipal court, said, “Without judging the merits of the legal argument, that narrow legal definition does not reflect my view, the view of the board or the view of Commissioner Warner. We are a public institution of higher education subject to all the constitutional prohibitions and laws that apply to other public entities.”

Steve Maurano, spokesman for the Board of Governors of Higher Education, said, “The legal team working on [the motion] viewed it as a narrow, technical legal argument based on past U.S. District Court and 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions, and they thought it was the correct strategy.”

But, Maurano said, “The problem was it wasn’t approved by the Board of Governors, and when they learned of it, they didn’t support the position that RIC is not a government entity.” So Caprio and Warner asked the college to withdraw the motion, and it will be pulled back soon, he said.

Rhode Island College spokeswoman Jane E. Fusco said, “The college’s position is that the intricacies of this case are in the hands of the attorneys representing Rhode Island College and the Board of Governors for Higher Education. They have the knowledge and expertise to provide the details of the motion and litigation. I am sure we will be hearing from them again soon and expect that they will provide more details in a new filing at a later date.”

In the motion filed Friday, Rhode Island College lawyer Nicholas Trott Long acknowledged that the First Amendment prohibits most government censorship of speech and other forms of expression.

But, the motion said, Rhode Island College “is not a government entity” and the other defendants — Nazarian and Vice President for Student Affairs Gary M. Penfield — “are not government employees.”

“As plaintiffs are without First Amendment rights vis-À-vis the college,” the motion stated, “their claims against defendants Nazarian and Penfield must fail as well.”

According to a database provided by the state Department of Administration, Nazarian makes $185,000 a year and Penfield makes $129,500 a year.

On Monday, Steven Brown, executive director of the local ACLU affiliate, had said, “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.”

Yesterday, Brown said, “I’m pleased that the college quickly reconsidered its position. Now we can address the merits of the case.”

If the motion had not been withdrawn, Brown said, “I would have hoped and expected that the court would have given the argument the short shrift it deserved.”

Brown said he was surprised the college pulled the motion back so quickly. But, he said, “I’m happy that the relinquishment of constitutional rights on the RIC campus was so fleeting.”

efitzpat@projo.com