The University of Florida will change a campus policy that was the subject of a free speech lawsuit by a conservative student group under the terms of a settlement, the group announced Thursday.
The university will also pay $66,000 in legal damages to the campus chapter to settle the lawsuit brought by Young Americans for Freedom.
“UF will change a school policy that unconstitutionally discriminated against conservative students—denying them equal access to university resources,” Young America’s Foundation, the group’s parent organization, said in a statement. “As a result of yesterday’s settlement, all student groups will now have equal access to Activity and Service Fee funding regardless of their viewpoint or set of beliefs. The university’s new policy requires the student government to approve funding requests by student organizations when a set of viewpoint-neutral criteria are met.”
The group filed suit against the university in December, claiming the school arbitrarily instituted a new rule that blocked its funding to bring conservative speakers on campus, a change it says only affected them and violated students’ First and 14th Amendment rights. The university divided student groups into two monetary classifications, budgeted and non-budgeted, and then created a new rule that denied funding for speaking engagements to non-budgeted groups.
“I’m grateful to see common sense and constitutional rights return to the University of Florida. I’m so proud of, and grateful for everyone at UFYAF and their hard work to bring this to fruition.” said Sarah Long, former president of the campus group. “The university should be a marketplace of ideas where students can decide for themselves which ideas have merit. Moving forward, our chapter is excited to finally host the great speakers we were denied.”
The University of Florida chapter also released a statement on Twitter.
We’re extremely proud to announce that free speech and the US Constitution won on @UF’s campus.
Despite brutal resistance from campus policies, we’ve still invited brilliant speakers like @DineshDSouza, @andrewklavan, & @CHSommers.
Cc: @yaf @Y_A_Freedomhttps://t.co/4hjsi49k4j
— UF YAF (@UFloridaYAF) August 1, 2019
A spokesman for the university confirmed the two had reached a settlement, but would not confirm details.
“UF and YAF have reached a mutually agreeable resolution of the lawsuit after determining it was in the interests of both parties to do so,” spokesman Steve Orlando told the Washington Examiner.
