Students threatened for calling Hamas 'terrorist,' illegal immigration 'a cancer' get settlement

Just the News ^ | July 22, 2025 11:06pm | Greg Piper

[E. Pluribus Unum]

High school student suspended for saying "illegal aliens" also gets payout to cover his private school. Professor who banned Christian student from defending gun rights removed from class.

Calling Hamas a "terrorist" organization, illegal immigration a "cancer" and people who illegally immigrate "illegal aliens" is no longer punishable speech at taxpayer-funded schools in California and North Carolina, under settlements to resolve litigation this month.

In a third quadrant of America, Eastern Maine Community College didn't wait for litigation before replacing a professor who called a Christian student a hypocrite for defending the Second Amendment in a debate assignment, and twice ordered her to write a new paper, after dozens of state Republican lawmakers demanded the professor's "immediate" firing.

The Coast Community College District paid Young Americans for Freedom student leaders at Golden West College, including a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran, a symbolic $17.91 each and nearly $26,000 in legal fees, less than two months after their lawyers at the Institute for Free Speech challenged the school's speech policies and enforcement.

Days before the Inter-Club Council officially recognized the YAF chapter this spring, following five months of ICC resistance based on its conservative views, Director of Student Life Stephanie Smallshaw gave Matin Samimiat and Annaliese Hutchings a "courtesy warning" in response to complaints about messages on their "Change My Mind" whiteboard.

During February and March recruiting events, they had posted sentences including "Illegal immigration is a cancer upon any society in the world" and “Hamas is a terrorist organization and they must be wiped from the face of the Earth."

Smallshaw threatened punishment if they kept writing such statements, saying the cancer metaphor "dehumanizes a group of people" and "can also be harmful to people who have experienced cancer with their loved ones," the lawsuit argues.

[Valpal1]

YAF is doing good work on campus. Keep it up.

[montag813]

The Big Payback is only just beginning.

[j.havenfarm]

I love that last line. In a therapeutic society, hurting people’s feelings is a crime. That’s what got a lot of places like the UK where they are now, where hurting people’s feelings can land you in jail. Setting aside the fact, if you’re a cancer victim or victim relative and you’re triggered by that statement, you’re much too delicate to be allowed out in public

[DPMD]

“...the cancer metaphor “dehumanizes a group of people”, meaning a group of people who are not conservative.

Good that the college not only paid up but also bounced this human tumor from the rolls. However, the settlement should have come from her personal finances.

[The Antiyuppie]

I would tell them to shove the $17.91 up their a——, with nice crispy new bills with sharp edges, and filthy old coins.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Smallshaw threatened punishment if they kept writing such statements, saying the cancer metaphor "dehumanizes a group of people" and "can also be harmful to people who have experienced cancer with their loved ones," the lawsuit argues.

Oh, dear Lord. I'm a cancer survivor (Hodgkins), and I'm fine with what these people said. I would actually submit that terrorists are worse than cancer, because they're evil human beings, not clumps of rogue cells. But anyway, any survivor who gets insulted by this metaphor needs his head examined. Or is that insulting to people with mental illnesses?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

OK, they actually said that illegal immigration is a cancer. Still fine with it, although I’m not certain the metaphor applies. More like ingesting poison, considering the problems it is causing in the US and Europe. Or is that an insult to people who’s kids got into the drain cleaner?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Whose, not who’s.