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The University of Houston has settled a lawsuit against its student speech policy weeks after a federal judge blocked the policy for violating students’ First Amendment rights.
The settlement is a victory for the nonprofit campus free speech organization Speech First, which first sued the university in February on behalf of several students who claimed the university’s policy was chilling to student speech and was overly broad.
FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON STUDENT POLICY FOR VIOLATING FREE SPEECH
“This is a huge win for the First Amendment,” Speech First executive director Cherise Trump said in a statement. “It sends a message to the University of Houston and other universities that they will be held accountable if they enact unconstitutional policies on campus.”
“Not only did we restore students’ free speech rights by eliminating the university’s ‘harassment’ policy, but the university agreed to adopt a new policy that complies with the standard laid out by the Supreme Court in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education,” Trump continued. “This means that the university cannot restrict a student’s speech unless it is so ‘severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive’ as to deny a student an equal access to education.”
The now-settled lawsuit noted that the university’s old harassment policy included “denigrating jokes” and “negative stereotyping” as forms of punishable harassment.
The settlement comes just weeks after a Texas federal judge enjoined the university’s policy, ruling that Speech First’s lawsuit was likely to succeed, writing, “The university cannot choose to abide by the First Amendment in the Constitution. … Restraint on free speech is prohibited absent limited circumstances carefully prescribed by the Supreme Court.”
“Universities across the country should be put on notice that overbroad policies designed to chill student speech will not be tolerated,” Speech First’s Trump said. “Every institution of higher learning should protect freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and the open exchange of ideas, not muzzle students with speech codes that disregard federal guidelines and the U.S. Constitution.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In addition to changing its policies, the university agreed to pay Speech First $30,000 in fees.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, the University of Houston said, “The UH System has reached an amicable agreement with the plaintiff and now considers this matter resolved.”
“As a result of our discussions, a revised anti-discrimination policy has been adopted,” the university said. “The UH System remains committed to protecting the constitutional rights of our students and employees.”
