On May 30, 2019, Speech First, a national membership group of students, alumni, and others that defends free speech on campus, sued University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen and other university officials in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The lawsuit claims the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s speech rules violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
The lawsuit challenges three university policies:
• Prior approval for election flyers. Students had to get “prior approval” before they could “post[] and distribut[e] leaflets, handbills, and any other types of materials” about “candidates for non-campus elections.” The university had no published standards for granting approval and no deadline for deciding.
• Ban on “bias-motivated incidents.” The university banned “action[s] or expression[s]” that are “motivated, at least in part, by prejudice against or hostility toward” a person or group because of traits such as race, gender, religion, or “socioeconomic class.” A Bias Assessment and Response Team handled these reports. The lawsuit argues this definition is so broad and vague that it covers speech the First Amendment protects.
• “No Contact Directives.” Officials could forbid all “oral, written, or third party communication” between a student and the person who complained about them, even when the student’s speech was fully protected.
Speech First asks the court to declare these policies unconstitutional and to permanently block the university from enforcing them.
Read the full complaint below:
