On April 21, 2026, Defending Education (DE) sued Missouri State University officials in federal court (Defending Education v. Williams, W.D. Mo.), challenging the university’s “bias response” policy as unconstitutional. Two days later, on April 23, the university eliminated its Bias Response Team and removed it from its website and handbook.
Under the settlement agreement, the university will not reinstate the Bias Response Team or create a similar office responsible for handling “bias incidents” unless the law requires it, and it will take reasonable steps to remove remaining references to the team and to “bias incidents” from its websites. DE then filed a notice dismissing its case.
Read the settlement agreement below:
