Judge dismisses free speech lawsuit against UT
A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit accusing the University of Texas of violating students’ rights to free speech, saying the group that filed it could not show that anyone had been harmed by the school’s policies.
The lawsuit was brought in December by the nonprofit Speech First, a national student group that offers to sue schools over censorship for as little as $5. It was filed on behalf of three unnamed UT students, who said they did not feel comfortable expressing their opinions on controversial issues like abortion, gun rights and immigration because of the university’s vague policies on verbal harassment, which led them to worry the school would retaliate against them if they spoke up.
They pointed to portions of the school’s institutional rules, residence hall manual and acceptable technology use policy that ban verbal harassment and encourage civil behavior. The suit alleged these policies were too broad and deterred people from speaking out for fear they would be reported or sanctioned.
In March, UT attorney Chip Babcock argued that the students had never said how exactly they were hurt by the policies — going so far as to question whether they even existed.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190604/just-in-judge-dismisses-free-speech-lawsuit-against-ut