Posted on 12/04/2018 11:37:18 AM PST by TigerClaws
After more than a year of litigation, the University of California, Berkeley, has settled a lawsuit with the Young Americas Foundation and the UC Berkeley College Republicans.
Campus conservatives accused the university of bias in the process of bringing high-profile speakers to campus. The original lawsuit revolved around the cancellation of an event with Ann Coulter. An amended version of the lawsuit included road blocks initiated by the university for an event with Ben Shapiro.
The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest backing the campus conservatives. The crux of their argument revolved around two campus policies that they claim violate students’ First and 14th Amendment rights: an unspoken “High-Profile Speaker Policy” and an on-the-books “ Major Events Policy.”
“This Department of Justice will not stand by idly while public universities violate students’ constitutional rights,” Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand said at the time.
In the settlement, UC Berkeley agreed to the following terms set by YAF:
Pay YAF $70,000. Rescind the unconstitutional “High-Profile Speaker Policy.” Rescind the viewpoint-discriminatory security fee policy. Abolish its heckler’s veto — protesters will no longer be able to shut down conservative expression. Under these terms, UC Berkeley will no longer be allowed to place a 3 p.m. curfew on conservative events or relegate conservative speakers to remote or inconvenient lecture halls on campus while giving left-leaning speakers access to preferred parts of campus.
YAF and UC Berkeley also agreed to a “fee schedule” that treats all students, student groups, and speakers equally. Unless students are handling money or serving alcohol at an event, there will not be a need for security fees.
“The policy that allowed Berkeley administrators to charge conservative students $20,000 for security to host Ben Shapiro — an amount three times greater than the fee charged to leftist students to host liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor — is gone,” says a press release from YAF.
"This settlement is a huge win for the Berkeley College Republicans and really all student groups on campus," Matt Ronnau, President of the Berkeley College Republicans, told the Washington Examiner. "This is a huge win for the 1st Amendment, and I am proud of the work that the men and women of the Berkeley College Republicans have put in to achieve this victory."
Not every conservative speaker faced the steadfast opposition Coulter and Shapiro faced. In October, I successfully spoke at UC Berkeley on the need for more free speech and event surprisingly went smoothly.
It’s called “fighting back”.
I’d like to say it’s about time. I think it’s well past time, but hey, we’re beginning to swing back.
This flight is going to be a little bumpy until we land, I think.
I don’t know the details of this case, but Congress has the constitutional responsibility to make punitive laws to discourage state actors from abridging constitutionally enumerated rights.
From the 14th Amendment:
"Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [emphasis added]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
"Section 5: The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
So where is Congress and the penal laws for this case?
In fact, it can be argued that Soros paid the settlement fees. Again, I don’t see federal penal laws at work in this judgement.
Corrections, insights welcome.
They will just raise tuition or fees, and keep doing it. But at least it is a victory.
It IS a victory. And a precedent. Many big things start small. May this trend be one of those situations.
Here’s to hoping!
Tee
Hee.
When the author of the article includes a self-referential statement, proper posting requires the inclusion of the author's name: Lauren Cooley.
I’m not seeing where the University of California, Berkeley is banned from assigning all non-socialist students to ‘double-secret probation’!
And she is...?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.