In what is a big win for campus free speech advocates, the University of Washington settled a lawsuit initially brought by the University of Washington College Republicans.
The lawsuit alleged that the University of Washington unfairly discriminated against the UW CRs and other conservative student groups by requiring them to pay exorbitant security fees for events threatened by radical leftists.
The UW CRs initially filed their lawsuit after the university imposed $17,000 in security fees for an on-campus event, which was to feature Joey Gibson of the conservative, Christian group Patriot Prayer, whose August 2017 rally in Seattle, Wash., was violently attacked by “anti-fascist” activists.
The lawsuit sought not only to obtain a temporary or permanent block on the security fee, but also a determination that the University of Washington’s security fee policy infringed on their First Amendment rights because it made hosting conservative speakers unaffordable and impractical. In effect, the UW CRs and their attorneys argued that the university’s security fee policy amounted to an unconstitutional speech tax.
U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman issued an emergency order blocking the security fee, signaling that the UW CRs were likely to prevail in their lawsuit. Moreover, 23 law professors at the University of Washington penned an open letter calling on the university to settle rather than continue litigation in the courts.
Under mounting pressure, the university decided to settle.
As a result of the settlement, the University of Washington will no longer charge student groups on campus for security for their events. It will also stop setting security fees based on the content of speech nor the community’s reaction to it.
In addition, two firms representing the UW CRs, Freedom X Law and Ellis, Lee & McKinstry, will receive $112,500 in attorney’s fees and court costs.
Bill Becker, president and general counsel of Freedom X, brought home the implications of the settlement, saying that he believed “the left-wing activists who call themselves anti-fascists have been taught a lesson in constitutional law and what freedom of speech really looks like.”
“It is fascism — not anti-fascism — to storm a public university campus with the goal of forcing the cancellation of politically conservative events. The UW College Republicans stood up to them and to a university that, intentionally or not, rewarded agitators through its discriminatory security fee policy,” stated Becker.
Because the lawsuit was settled, it cannot serve as legal precedent in similar cases; however, it may serve as a financial deterrent to other universities which are considering the unfair application of security fees against conservative student groups.
A similar free speech lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley, filed by the Berkeley College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation, is currently working its way through the courts.
