On November 20, 2018, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and Alliance Defending Freedom filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit supporting Speech First, a national membership group of students, alumni, and others that defends free speech on campus, in Speech First v. Schlissel.
Speech First challenged the University of Michigan’s definitions of “harassment” and “bullying,” which led to 16 disciplinary cases from 2016 to 2018. The trial court ruled the challenge moot because the university dropped the definitions soon after the lawsuit was filed. The brief warned that if a policy change during a lawsuit can end a student’s First Amendment claim this easily, universities will stay free to restrict protected speech by bringing old policies back or writing new ones with the same effect. It noted that 91 percent of the public colleges FIRE surveys have at least one policy restricting protected speech.
Read the full brief below:
