Court Hands Conservative Student Big Win Against University

A conservative student was recently handed a legal win in court against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) after accusing some professors of discrimination.

In a press release on Wednesday, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced that attorneys associated with the conservative organization "will conduct a First Amendment training session with three professors at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as part of the successful settlement of a former art therapy graduate student's lawsuit."

ADF's announcement comes just over a year after graduate student Maggie DeJong filed a lawsuit against SIUE claiming that some university officials violated her First Amendment rights by issuing "no-contact" orders against her in February 2022, prohibiting her from communicating with fellow students.

"Maggie DeJong filed suit against the officials for violating her civil and constitutional rights because she holds views that differed from many of her fellow students," ADF's press release added. "As part of the settlement, university officials also agreed to revise both their policies and student handbook to ensure students with varying political, religious, and ideological views are welcome in the art therapy program. In addition, university officials paid $80,000."

In its press release, the ADF stated that DeJong was attending the Art Therapy Program at SIUE just prior to filing the lawsuit. While as a student, DeJong spoke and engaged with students and other professors in the program, "but because DeJong's views—informed by her Christian faith and political stance—often differed from those of other students in the art therapy program, several of her fellow students reported her speech to university officials."

In addition to the no-contact orders, some students also reported DeJong for comments she made about her own personal views, the ADF said, which has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group for having anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies.

In a statement, ADF legal counsel Mathew Hoffmann told Newsweek on Friday that "universities cannot censor students because of their religious or political views. But the University did just that by issuing unconstitutional no-contact orders against Maggie. This settlement helps ensure that what happened to Maggie will not happen to any other student. We are hopeful that this free speech victory opens universities to what they should be—marketplaces of ideas, not echo chambers for one ideology."

Hoffmann's statement continued: "Alliance Defending Freedom will continue to hold universities accountable, so that they cannot harass and intimidate students because of their religious or political views."

A spokesperson for SIUE directed Newsweek to a statement on Friday that was recently issued by Chancellor James T. Minor, which said, "SIUE is unequivocally committed to protecting First Amendment rights and does not have policies that restrict free speech nor support censorship. SIUE remains committed to free speech, popular or unpopular, offensive or affable, in an environment that embraces the exchange of diverse views on every aspect of human society."

Minor added that while First Amendment rights on campus protects free speech among students and employees, it does not protect students from certain behaviors that "creates a pervasively hostile environment for other students."

"We accept that balancing these two deeply valued principles of free speech and a safe environment, in real time, represent inherent complications for administering prudence...Protecting free speech is not only driven by our values, but also by our legal obligations, while at the same time ensuring a non-hostile environment," Minor's statement said.