The infection of speech restrictions on campus has spread nationwide, but some are fighting back. The latest defense of the First Amendment is a lawsuit filed Thursday against Iowa State University.
The Ames, Iowa, school has “created a series of rules and regulations designed to restrain, deter, suppress, and punish speech concerning political and social issues of public concern,” says the suit filed in federal court on behalf of Iowa State students by the nonprofit Speech First.
The suit cites several examples of the school’s bias, such as a policy prohibiting students from “broadcasting email from a university account to solicit support for a candidate or ballot measure.” Another policy limits who can use chalk on pavement. The practice is popular with students on both sides of the abortion debate, and Iowa State recently intervened to say that only registered student organizations could use chalk on pavement and only to promote an event.
The university may be most legally vulnerable for its Campus Climate Reporting System, which is as Orwellian as it sounds. Under the “system,” students are encouraged to report “bias incidents” to a panel that includes the chief and vice chief of the Iowa State University Police Department, the dean of students, and the university counsel.
Speech First says the school’s definition of bias is unconstitutionally “amorphous and entirely subjective,” leaving students to “credibly fear that the expression of their deeply held views will be considered ‘biased’ and reported.” The university’s examples of reportable bias acts include “commentary in the classroom perceived as derogatory or biased.”
In fiscal 2018, Iowa State’s bias board received more than 100 complaints. That included reports taking issue with political expression, but even neutrality doesn’t guarantee protection for the accused. Speech First mentions one classroom discussion when a student asserted that “describing abortion and birth control as ‘women’s issues’ ‘erases trans men and people who are non-binary who get abortions and/or use birth control.”
The professor neither agreed nor disagreed but was nonetheless reported for bias, the complaint says. The student claimed the professor was “repeat[ing] this erasure” by failing to “push back” in order “to get students to be more inclusive.” Iowa State declined to say if the unnamed professor faced discipline. But the chilling effect on campus speech from such official accusations is obvious.
Spokeswoman Angie Hunt says Iowa State “is committed to upholding the First Amendment, and therefore, does not impose restrictions or punish individuals based upon the content of a person’s speech.” She adds that the climate reporting system makes referrals to “the appropriate unit to determine what, if any, action is needed.” After a referral, “where appropriate, employees and students will be held responsible for misconduct pursuant to university policy,” Ms. Hunt says.
None of this is likely to save Iowa State’s policies in court. Speech First sued the University of Michigan last year over similar policies, and the school dissolved its bias response team after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals scored its “implicit threat of punishment and intimidation to quell speech.” Iowa State would be wise to settle now to avoid further embarrassment.
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